Oncoendocrinologist told about the symptoms of nodules in the thyroid gland

Thyroid nodular masses are a common problem. Maxim Yudin, oncosurgeon and oncoendocrinologist at SM-Clinica, told Izvestia on December 11 about the dangers of the pathology, its symptoms and modern methods of treatment.

According to him, nodules in the thyroid gland can be of different size, density, intensity of blood supply, vertical or horizontal orientation, etc. The various characteristics of thyroid nodule are determined by ultrasound and evaluated by a clinical specialist for prognosis and further tactics. The ultrasound signs of nodule for convenience and simplicity have been combined into the TI-RADS ultrasound classification, which allows referring the patient for various clarifying examinations or recommending surveillance.

The main danger of having nodules in the thyroid is that they may turn out to be malignant.

"Determining risk stratification is necessary primarily to detect malignant thyroid pathology, which, according to the Chancery Registry, is on par with diseases such as bladder or cervical cancer. In most cases, thyroid cancer is quite "lazy" in its development, but there are aggressive forms of cancer, which have rapid growth and are prone to distant metastasis, "- said Yudin.

At the same time, he said, a clear cause of nodules in the thyroid gland is currently not defined. Nodular formations can have both hereditary character and arise spontaneously.

"Most often, nodules in the thyroid gland clinically do not manifest themselves in any way in the patient, but in the case of a large size there may be complaints of discomfort when swallowing; a feeling of a lump in the throat; deformation of the neck; cosmetic defects," the doctor added.

He also noted that the main goal of nodular goiter treatment is first of all to detect various forms of malignant processes. Due to the different variants of thyroid cancer, there are more than 15 types, the specialist specified.

"As we said, in most cases, thyroid cancer runs favorably and does not have distant metastases. However, if an aggressive form of cancer develops, treatment can be complex and traumatic. This is surgical removal of lymph nodes of the neck, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, etc.", - emphasized Yudin.

According to him, the treatment of the most common nodular goiter, as a rule, is not required, it is enough just dynamic monitoring. In the presence of a large nodal formation, detection of nodal atypia, various forms of thyrotoxicosis requires surgical treatment.

"In the presence of contraindications, both absolute and relative to surgical treatment, it is possible to use a new method of microwave ablation of the thyroid gland. The essence of this method is simple: microwave oscillations heat up the node tissue and there is a replacement of the node tissue with fibrous tissue. This allows in some cases not to use surgical treatment, which means that as a result we get a solution to the patient's problem with an excellent cosmetic effect", - added the oncoendocrinologist.

Earlier, December 6, doctor-endocrinologist "Paracelsus Clinic" Nikita Churekov told "Izvestia" about the causes of excessive hair growth and severe hair loss. Thus, he pointed out that problems with the state of hair are one of the main indicators of possible disorders in the work of the pituitary gland, thyroid gland, adrenal glands.