A Few Things About Thyroid Cancer

The meeting I was heading up the other day had a speaker on Thyroid Cancer. The surgeon who spoke is highly thought of in our area and she was one helluva speaker. It was extraordinarily informative.

I have many friends who have had Thyroid Cancer and where I know the treatment they have received, I just always assumed there was only one type of Thyroid Cancer. I wasn’t aware there are multiple types as in Leukemia. 75% of Thyroid Cancers are Papillary and have an excellent success rate for 5 year remission. I want to say upwards of 80%. But then she told us of the other three kinds, listing them out for us in order of incidence, the last being the least common, but the most dangerous.

3-5% of all Thyroid Cancers are what they call Anaplastic. It is a very aggressive Thyroid Cancer and does not respond well to the conventional removal and radiation treatments of Papillary Cancer. It tends to strike over the age of 65. Metastasis occurs in the lung of 50% of all patients by the time of diagnosis. Tracheal invasion is present in 25% cases upon diagnosis. It occurs in men more often than women 2-1.

Wondering where I’m going with this? She said that although information is not being given on Chief Justice Rehnquist, the specialists in this field have been able to put together what little information that have received about his case and they feel that more than likely Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer is probably what he has. She said they don’t know for sure, but this is what they are speculating based on what they have heard in the news.

It doesn’t look good.