MRCP revision battle 17.3: Thyroid cancer

Under 5% of thyroid lumps are malignant, and in general those with a malignant mass will be euthyroid.


There are 4 main types of thyroid cancer:

1. papillary - 70% - mainly affects young females, excellent prognosis
2. follicular - 20% 
3. medullary - 5% - associated with MEN-2 (more on MEN tomorrow)
4. anaplastic - 1% - very poor prognosis and resistant to treatment.

Rarely a patient can have lymphoma of the thyroid - this usually follows hashimotos disease.


The mainstay of treatment for thyroid cancer is surgery.



Lets break into a canter as we head on to legionella...