Health Topic

Thyroid Cancer

Your thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in your neck. There are several thyroid cancer types with different treatments. Discover options available.

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Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.

About Thyroid Cancer

Thyroid cancer is a cancer that starts in the tissues of the thyroid. Your thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland in the front of your neck. It makes hormones that control the way the body uses energy. These hormones affect nearly every organ in your body and control many of your body's most important functions. For example, they affect your breathing, heart rate, weight, digestion, and moods.

There are different types of thyroid cancer; the main ones include:

  • Differentiated thyroid cancer, which includes papillary cancer and follicular cancer
  • Medullary thyroid cancer
  • Anaplastic thyroid cancer

Certain people are more likely to develop thyroid cancer. Your risk is higher if you:

  • Are between ages 25 and 65
  • Are a woman
  • Are Asian
  • Were exposed to certain types of radiation, including from radiation treatments to your head or neck as a child or from a radiation emergency
  • Have had a goiter (enlarged thyroid)
  • Having certain genetic conditions, including certain types of multiple endocrine neoplasia
  • Have a family history of thyroid cancer or thyroid disease

Thyroid cancer may not cause symptoms at first. It is sometimes found during a routine physical exam. You may get signs or symptoms as the cancer gets bigger. The symptoms may include:

  • A lump (nodule) in the neck
  • Trouble breathing
  • Trouble swallowing
  • Pain when swallowing
  • Hoarseness or other changes to your voice that do not get better

To find out if you have thyroid cancer, your health care provider may use:

  • A physical exam, including checking your neck for swelling, lumps, or anything that seems unusual
  • A medical history
  • Thyroid tests
  • Other blood or imaging tests
  • A biopsy

Treatment for thyroid cancer depends on the type of cancer you have and whether the cancer has spread. Often, more than one type of treatment may be needed. The treatment options include:

  • Surgery.
  • Radiation therapy, including radioactive iodine therapy.
  • Chemotherapy.
  • Thyroid hormone therapy.
  • Targeted therapy, which uses drugs or other substances that attack specific cancer cells with less harm to normal cells.
  • Watchful waiting, which means that you don't get treatment right away. Your regularly checks to see if your signs or symptoms appear or change.

It sits within Cancers, Ear, Nose and Throat and Endocrine System.

The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Cancer Institute.

When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.

Research on Thyroid Cancer

1,264 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.

What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.

Research currently under way

Research already completed

Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.

Where to read more

Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.

Start Here

Symptoms

Diagnosis and Tests

Treatments and Therapies

Prevention and Risk Factors

Living With

Related Issues

Genetics

Statistics and Research

Clinical Trials

Medical subject headings

Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Thyroid Neoplasms. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.

This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Thyroid Cancer, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.