High thyroid cancer rate due to better diagnosis

The head and neck surgeons and oncologists said that the high incidence of thyroid cancer cases in Kerala is not due to overdiagnosis but better diagnosis.
"In Kerala, there is no overdiagnosis but better diagnosis of thyroid cancer. Probably many of them would have been detected later or may have gone undetected if left alone, as they grow slowly ," said Dr Subramania Iyer, head, Centre for Head and Neck Surgery and Oncology, AIMS.

"Now, almost 25% of the thyroid cases are cancerous. Five years back, the carcinoma thyroid cases was just about 5%. If the swelling is more than four centimetres in diametre, then whether cancerous or not, it needs to be removed. If it is less than four and the ultrasound is suggesting that it is problematic, then it is better to remove it. If you are late, the patient will have to go for radioactive iodine treatment program besides surgery. If further advanced, then they will require radiation," said Dr R Padmakumar, endoscopic thyroid surgeon, Renai Medicity . Almost 99.9% of thyroid cancer is treatable and curable. Though doctors don't know the exact reason for the increase in thyroid cancer incidence, they said that they suspect that there are several factors contributing to this, which could be due to thyroiditis that is going up in Kerala, background radiation, dietary factors or early diagnosis.

 Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/high-thyroid-cancer-rate-due-to-better-diagnosis/articleshow/58289854.cms

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

EMA validates Incyte’s MAA for retifanlimab to treat metastatic squamous cell anal carcinoma

Incyte, global biopharmaceutical company, announced the validation of the Company’s Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for retifanlimab, an intravenous PD-1 inhibitor, as a potential treatment for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic squamous cell anal carcinoma (SCAC) who have progressed on, or who are intolerant of, platinum-based chemotherapy. The European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) validation of the MAA confirms that the submission is sufficiently complete to begin the formal review process. “While the incidence of SCAC is increasing in Europe, treatment options for advanced disease are limited in their effectiveness, and there are no approved options once patients have progressed on standard therapy,” said Lance Leopold, M.D., Group vice president, Immuno-Oncology Clinical Development, Incyte. “The EMA validation of the MAA for retifanlimab – which follows the recent US Food & Drug Administration acceptance of our Biologics License Application for Priority R...
Read more

Tumour-targeting drug paves way for bone cancer treatment

 The treatment of osteosarcoma, the most common tumour of bone, is challenging, but a new study is offering hope to the patients with this disease. The study led by The University of  Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre  found that a drug, known as bone metastasis-targeting peptidomimetic (BMTP-11), has potential as a new therapeutic strategy for this devastating illness. Results from the preclinical study looked at BMTP-11 alone and in combination with the chemotherapy agent gemcitabine. Although osteosarcoma is a relatively rare cancer, it is a leading disease-related cause of death in children and young adults ages 10 to 20. However, over the last 25 years, the five-year survival rate has remained unchanged, and the treatment options for these patients are few. In addition, the side effects of available treatment options often are significant and cumulative, and may cause other health problems and damage to major organs. "What's novel about this treatment is that...
Read more

Merck’s Keytruda plus platinum- and fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy receives US FDA nod to treat certain patients with locally advanced/metastatic esophageal or GEJ carcinoma

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Keytruda, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic esophageal or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) (tumors with epicenter 1 to 5 centimeters above the GEJ) carcinoma that is not amenable to surgical resection or definitive chemoradiation in combination with platinum- and fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy. The approval is based on results from the phase 3 KEYNOTE-590 trial, which demonstrated significant improvements in overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and objective response rate (ORR) for Keytruda plus fluorouracil (FU) and cisplatin versus FU and cisplatin alone, regardless of histology or PD-L1 expression status. For OS and PFS, Keytruda plus FU and cisplatin reduced the risk of death by 27% (HR=0.73 [95% CI, 0.62-0.86]; p<0.0001) and reduced the risk of disease progression or death...
Read more