The thyroid is a gland responsible for the production of hormones that act throughout the human body. Improper functioning can lead to the release of too much hormone (hyperthyroidism) or too little (hypothyroidism).
This week, the CNN Vital Signs addresses the various doubts and curiosities about the gland, which is one of the most important in the body. Thyroid specialists explain the growing incidence of cancer cases in the gland, present the main characteristics of endocrine diseases and the increase in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules.
The program, presented by cardiologist Roberto Kalil, will air this Wednesday (10), at 10:30 pm, right after the CNN Newspaper, in the prime belt of CNN Brasil.
The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland located in the lower part of the neck that produces thyroid hormones that are essential for the functioning of various organs and the balance of the body.
“We function best with the right amount of thyroid hormone produced. So the beauty of the thyroid is that it is an essential organ, but it is not a vital organ. It can even be removed completely. We can replace it with medication, which is the marketed thyroid hormone, exactly the same as the hormone that the thyroid would be producing”, explains Luiz Paulo Kowalski (see interview in the video above), professor of head and neck surgery at the Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo (USP).
Diagnosis of Thyroid Cancer
Cardiologist Roberto Kalil highlights the importance of early diagnosis and emphasizes that the request for thyroid ultrasound in clinical evaluations increases the discovery of this type of nodule.
In an interview, the first woman president of the World Federation of Ultrasonography, Cristina Chammas, explains which situations require thyroid ultrasound.
“If you take the population over 40 years old, about half will have a thyroid nodule. Within this range of nodules, it is up to the sonographer to screen very well those at increased risk or those at low risk, which is the minority of cases”, emphasizes Cristina.
Laura Ward, professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the State University of Caminas (Unicamp), explains that for some cases of thyroid cancer there are active surveillance protocols, which means observing the patient who has a small tumor with specific characteristics, and that it is not high risk.
“It doesn’t mean sending the patient home with his tumor and saying do well. It means carefully observing these individuals to see if they are among those 3% of cases that eventually evolve into more serious cancer”, emphasizes the endocrinologist.
advance in treatment
Until recently, complete removal of the gland, a procedure called total thyroidectomy, was the only recommended treatment for treating thyroid cancer. With advances in research in the area, new and less invasive surgical methods emerged.
Partial surgery and even radiofrequency ablation, which is a minimally invasive process, are already used to treat certain types of cancer.
Reference: CNN Brasil
