Get Involved/Facts/Tips/Audio/Video PSA/Graphics for Sharing/Get Involved/PSAs
Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month is recognized in the American Hospital Association’s Calendar of Health Observances & Recognition Days and is sponsored by ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association.
There are always free education resources available.
Spread the word about ThyCa’s free support and education, early identification, treatment, and treatment options.
- Ten suggestions for aid
- Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month is in September. began in 2000.
- Invitation to Participate in ThyCa’s Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month
- Press Release: Highlights from Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month Neck Tucks, Free Support and Education, and Research Needs
- 2016 is anticipated to see a record number of thyroid cancer diagnoses.
- What Readers Have to Say About the Importance of Neck Palpation
- The need for early detection and additional research is highlighted by Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month.
- Three Thyroid Cancer Facts to Share with Your Friends
- Not a “Good” Cancer, Thyroid Cancer
- The Ten Most Important Facts About Thyroid Cancer
- Increased Awareness of Neck Checks, Support Services, Education, and Research Due to New Thyroid Cancer PSA
- Infographic on Thyroid Cancer
- Public service announcements on the radio
- Free brochures are available all year.
- Have You Checked Your Neck?
- Neck Check AACE Card
- Thyroid Infographic (all thyroid conditions) from The Endocrine Society’s Hormone Health Network
- Images for Facebook and messages about awareness
- Understand the symptoms to bring up with your doctor:
- You might feel a lump in your neck, or your doctor might find a nodule there while performing a normal examination. These thyroid nodules are typically benign (noncancerous).
- Some persons first experience voice changes, swollen lymph nodes, neck fullness, difficulty breathing, or difficulty swallowing.
- Mention ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc. to others, as well as our comprehensive website.
- Learn about the past of ThyCa.
- Print and distribute these flyers:
- Concerning Thyroid Cancer
- Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month is in September.
- Poster for ThyCa Support Services
- the thyroid? ThyCa is useful.
- The Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, or ThyCa
- Do you have thyroid cancer?, from our patient services brochure,
- pamphlet to raise awareness of thyroid cancer starring Catherine Bell
- Our cards with information
- The wristbands, ribbon pins, and magnets for thyroid cancer awareness can be distributed or displayed.
- American Thyroid Association Guidelines: Free for Your Doctor
- Downloadable resources for nothing
In This Article...
What hue represents thyroid cancer on a ribbon?
Thyroid Cancer Awareness Wristband in Three Colors Wear our specially created bracelet in the three thyroid cancer colors of Purple, Teal, and Pink to help spread awareness of the disease. To support our cause, give one to a friend or family member.
Does thyroid cancer have a month?
At the base of the throat, there lies a butterfly-shaped gland called the thyroid. Iodine, a mineral present in some foods and iodized salt, is used by the gland to aid in the production of many hormones that regulate heart rate, body temperature, metabolism, and the quantity of calcium in the blood.
The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database of the National Cancer Institute predicts that 52,890 Americans will be diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2020, and 2,180 will pass away from the condition. The survival rate for this kind of cancer is 98.3% after five years.
Papillary thyroid cancer, follicular thyroid cancer, medullary thyroid cancer, and anaplastic thyroid cancer are the four main kinds of thyroid cancer.
According to the National Carcinoma Institute, papillary thyroid cancer makes up about 85% of all diagnoses and is the most frequent form of thyroid cancer. The prognosis for this kind of thyroid cancer is excellent if detected early.
Approximately 10% of thyroid cancer diagnoses are follicular thyroid cancers, which are the second most frequent kind. It starts off in follicular cells and often develops slowly. If detected in time, this type of cancer is also very curable.
The C cells of the thyroid, which produce the hormone calcitonin that helps regulate calcium levels in the blood, are where medullary thyroid cancer begins. Nearly everyone with a specific gene mutation develops this rare malignancy. Usually, the presence of this mutated gene can be found through blood tests.
An extremely rare and aggressive form of thyroid cancer, anaplastic thyroid carcinoma typically affects those over 60. This type of cancer is challenging to cure and spreads quickly.
Risk factors for thyroid cancer include radiation exposure and a family history of thyroid problems. Thyroid cancer is diagnosed considerably more frequently in women than in men.
Is thyroid cancer a significant issue?
Naturally, I was concerned, but the information appeared reassuring: According to the National Cancer Institute, thyroid cancer has one of the greatest survival rates of all cancers, at 97.9% five years after diagnosis. As a result, thyroid cancer is known as a “good cancer.”
Why is the ribbon for thyroid cancer three colors?
ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association Inc. is pleased to announce the 14th year of its research grants program, which offers funding to academics and institutions all around the world. 47 awards have already been given to researchers in 5 different nations.
In 2015, ThyCa will give out fresh funding for the study of thyroid cancer. One new award will study thyroid cancer caused by follicular cells (papillary, follicular, anaplastic, variants). Medullary thyroid cancer research is the subject of another recent grant.
The third new award is for any kind of thyroid cancer research. The Ric Blake Memorial Thyroid Cancer Research Grant was established in Ric Blake’s honor and memory as a co-founder of ThyCa.
ThyCa extends an invitation to everyone to join us in our search for treatments and cures for all types of thyroid cancer. We appreciate all of you who have given to our research funds. Together, we’re advancing closer to our goal of finding treatments for thyroid cancer in all cases.
Deep blue-purple, pink, and teal are the three hues that may be seen on the Awareness Ribbon Pins, Magnet Ribbons, and ThyCa logo. The ThyCa logo’s Pantone colors and numbers are pink (238), blue-purple (266), and teal (3252).
Cherie LC, a volunteer for ThyCa and a thyroid cancer survivor, chose the three colors more than 16 years ago. She selected the colors to stand for the throat energy center, spiritual healing influences, and the healing properties of teal.
The use of three colors highlights the fact that thyroid cancer can occur in a variety of ways and circumstances and affects people of all ages, from infants to elderly.
It’s Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month in September. We may all proudly display and don our colors all year long. On our Raise Awareness page, you can get free resources and advice.
We appreciate you spreading knowledge about thyroid cancer and making others aware of our free support, activities, and publications.
Free Thyroid Cancer Handbooks and a Low-Iodine Cookbook are available from ThyCa by download, ePub, or mail.
Our free Low-Iodine Cookbook and thyroid cancer handbooks, both of which have undergone medical review, are stuffed with useful information. You can get them in three practical formats.
You can request a copy by mail, download them in PDF format from our website, or purchase them as ePubs (search “ThyCa on iTunes or GooglePlay).
We also send them in bulk, free of charge, to medical professionals so they can distribute them to their patients. On our website, there is an order form.
We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of our Medical Advisors, other experts, thyroid cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers in the writing, editing, and reviewing of these publications.
- Basics of thyroid cancer. 50 pages are devoted to various thyroid cancers. English, Chinese, Italian, Russian, and Spanish are now all available.
- Thyroid anaplastic cancer. 40 pages.
- Cancer of the thyroid medulla. 50 pages.
- The 7th edition of the Low-Iodine Cookbook is available in English. More than 340 recipes are included in the 120 pages of the book, along with recommendations from research dietitians and specialists in thyroid cancer for the temporary low-iodine diet. Spanish and French (3rd editions) are also available (5th edition).
Does weight gain follow thyroid removal?
Weight gain following thyroid surgery is frequent in hyperthyroid patients. This happens as a result of the decreased levels of thyroid hormone in the blood, which mitigates the effects of high thyroid hormones on weight loss (4,5). On the other hand, it is uncertain how thyroid surgery affects weight in euthyroid people. Even when they have attained biochemical euthyroidism after thyroid surgery, patients frequently complain of weight increase. Studies looking into this problem have produced conflicting findings. Numerous of these studies have unclear or poor follow-up and are very susceptible to bias in selection (69). Some of these restrictions can be addressed by a population-based study. These studies are less prone to selection and referral bias than studies that are not population-based since they analyze a population within a specific geographic area (10). Population-based studies make it easier to collect longitudinal data since they collect information from several sources within a given geographic area and are not restricted to a single source or healthcare system.
To better comprehend the degree to which patients receiving thyroid surgery for thyroid cancer or thyroid nodules experienced any weight change, a population-based study was carried out. Additionally, studies examining weight change were the subject of a systematic review and meta-analysis, which made it easier to evaluate the findings in light of the overall body of data.
Does thyroid removal result in a shorter life span?
The standardised survival time clearly decreased in patients with persistent illness. Initially persistent disease and recurrence are prognostic factors, but not age itself, for a worse TNM status and a larger prevalence of hrthle cell carcinoma. The standardised survival time of patients who cannot be cured in the initial or subsequent treatment procedure, however, was unaffected by these considerations. Additionally, the standardised survival time in cases with chronic disease was unaffected by the patient’s age at diagnosis. This is quite noteworthy as it indicates that the rise in mortality is proportional to the age-dependent mortality rate in the overall population. For persistent patients, the essentially straight Kaplan-Meier plot (Fig. 4) shows that their standardized survival times have a nearly Gaussian distribution pattern. The vast range of dedifferentiation of the metastatic tissue is consistent with the wide range of standardised survival time, which ranges from 0 to above 1. It also indicates the variation in disease development.
How can the absence of age-specific illness risk in the standardized analysis be explained? If two age groupsyounger and olderfrom the general population are compared and it is determined that the younger group has a life expectancy that is twice as long as the older group’s, then the younger group’s vitality may be thought of as being twice as strong as the older group’s. The younger group does actually have a higher median survival rate than the older group when they share the same environment and face the same hazards. However, the median survival in both groups is equal to the expectation, making the median standardised survival in both groups 100%. It would not be unexpected to find a shorter median survival in these patients when compared to the median survival of their own age group when performing a subgroup analysis on those who were newly diagnosed with some specified severe disease at the start of follow-up, taking the excess probability of death of that particular disease into probability. Given that the vital strength of the younger patients was chosen to be twice that of the older patients, it should not be surprising either to find that the shortened median survival in the younger patients is still twice that of the shortened median survival in the older patients.
We discovered a lower standardised survival rate in patients with persistent thyroid carcinoma, which was in fact age-independent. Because the mortality rate in the general population is the inverse of the age-dependent vital strength, the corresponding increase in the age-dependent death rate in the general population in these patients is entirely reasonable.
Age is not present in the standardized data presented here and, in our opinion, should not be used in treatment criteria. Age is used in prognostic systems based on conventional multiple regression analysis (such as those developed by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, TNM, etc.). In these high-risk categories, regardless of age, this novel statistical method emphasizes the prognostic relevance of the aforementioned risk variables and the urgent requirement for beginning curative therapy.
However, in cases with chronic disease, roughly 20% of fatalities are not from thyroid cancer, and some have a standardized survival time of more than 1. This exemplifies how moderate the course was for many of them.
In our analysis, the maximum follow-up was 23 years, and we estimate that more than 20% of patients had chronic disease. The percentage of chronic disease will increase even more in cases when recurrences remain after more than two decades. The final proportion of disease-specific mortality will most likely stay much below a third, which is the interim estimate at this time as shown in Fig. 3, as the prevalence of a cancer with a poor prognostic status is lower in younger patients.
In conclusion, this study has demonstrated that age is not a disease-specific risk factor and should not be considered independently when deciding on therapy. Additionally, we have demonstrated that thyroidectomy, high-dose radioactive iodine, and thyroid hormone therapy as a whole are safe and do not reduce life expectancy. But it’s still crucial to understand that, regardless of age, the median standardised survival rate for people with persistent disease is only 60%. This emphasizes the critical need for novel therapeutic options for individuals with chronic disease, as opposed to putting all of one’s efforts into quickly recognizing the disease’s recurrence.
How long does a thyroid cancer patient live?
thyroid follicular cancer 85 out of 100 males (or about 85%) will remain cancer-free for at least five years following their diagnosis. Nearly 90 out of every 100 women (nearly 90%) will remain cancer-free for five years or more after being diagnosed.
Is thyroid cancer in stage 4 treatable?
The thyroid gland’s cells develop abnormally and multiply unchecked in thyroid cancer. In the end, it leads to the gradual loss of normal cell function and eventual degradation of human health.
The endocrine system, which controls how the body produces hormones, includes the thyroid gland. Iodine is absorbed by the thyroid gland from the bloodstream to create thyroid hormones, which control a person’s metabolic rate. A thyroid gland in good health is hardly perceptible. A bump in the neck might be felt if a thyroid tumor develops. A tumor may be benign or malignant. When a tumor can develop and spread to different bodily sites, it is said to be malignant. Depending on the type of thyroid cancer, the prognosis and stage can differ.
Stage IV thyroid cancer is an advanced condition in which the cancer has progressed to distant organs in addition to the thyroid gland. The prognosis is not as good for stage IV thyroid cancer, and treatment is challenging. If cancer has progressed to the brain, it is occasionally only viable to provide palliative treatment. Once cancer reaches stage IV, a full recovery might not be possible.
The majority of thyroid cancer types are completely curable in their early stages (stages I and II). Patients should therefore seek treatment as soon as feasible.
What causes thyroid cancer primarily?
Although a number of genetic diseases are associated with thyroid cancer (included in Thyroid cancer risk factors), the precise origin of the majority of thyroid tumors is still unknown.
A person’s thyroid cells may develop cancer if certain DNA mutations occur. Our genesthe manuals for how our cells workare made up of DNA, a molecule found in every one of our cells. Since our DNA comes from our parents, we often resemble them. But DNA has an impact beyond just our appearance. Additionally, it may affect our susceptibility to certain illnesses, such as some forms of cancer.
Some genes carry instructions that determine whether or not our cells will divide, grow, or die.
- Oncogenes are specific genes that promote cell growth and division or extend cell life beyond what is normal.
- Tumor suppressor genes are those that prevent or delay cell division or cause cells to die at the appropriate moment.
DNA alterations that activate oncogenes or silence tumor suppressor genes can result in cancer.
Each gene is passed down twice from each parent to the child. Damaged DNA can be passed on to us from one or both parents. However, hereditary gene alterations do not account for the majority of malignancies. In these situations, a person’s genes alter as they age. They could arise when radiation or another environmental factor damages a cell’s DNA, or they might only happen occasionally inside a cell for no apparent reason.
Do you experience symptoms of thyroid cancer?
The primary sign of thyroid cancer is a typically painless lump or swelling in the front of your neck, just below your Adam’s apple.
Adam’s apples do exist on women, although they are much smaller and less noticeable than those on men.
Your neck’s lymph nodes may also be impacted and swollen. Small glands called lymph nodes are a component of the lymphatic system, which aids in the defense against infection.
Other thyroid cancer symptoms, which may include the following, may also appear if the ailment has progressed to an advanced stage.
- undiagnosed hoarseness that persists for a few weeks without resolution
- a persistent cough, sore throat, or swallowing issues
- stiffness in the neck
