Main TypesThere are five main thyroid cancer types: |
PapillaryThis is the most common type and often presents in young women. However, this does not mean it cannot be found in older people, children and men. If this type of cancer spreads it often goes to the lymph glands/nodes in the neck or nearby although, like with any cancer, it can spread elsewhere. |
FollicularThis is the second most common type and tends to occur in a slightly older group. This type of cancer is much less likely to spread to the lymph glands and may spread to other parts of the body through the bloodstream. |
MedullaryThis is a much rarer type. In a quarter of patients (25%) this cancer is caused by an inherited faulty gene (called the RET proto oncogene) that can run in families. In 2016 a quality of life study called 'QaLM: Assessment of Quality of Life Questionnaires in Medullary Thyroid Cancer Patients' was launched in the UK. Two hundred patients are required from across the UK and further information can be found on the Current UK Trials page of this website. |
AnaplasticThis is another rare type of thyroid cancer and tends to present at an older age. The majority of patients are older than 60 years. It tends to grow more quickly than the other types and can be difficult to treat. The interNational Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer Tissue Bank and Database project (iNATT) was launched in 2013. The project offers patients with this diagnosis a rare opportunity to participate in research. By collecting tissue and blood samples along with clinical information from across the UK and from international centres we will be able to gather a significant amount of data which will help us make progress with research in to this difficult to treat disease. We hope to learn more about why and how this type of cancer develops so that we can then develop new ways to treat it. This is going to be a long term project which will need to run over a number of years. Patients who are interested in taking part will be asked to provide their consent for their already collected tissue samples (e.g. thyroid gland biopsy) to be donated to iNATT. They will also have the option to donate a small blood sample and to have their clinical data collected. This will be stored securely and confidentially and will only be accessible by your own doctor and the study's chief investigator. This research project is currently run by Dr Kate Garcez, Consultant Oncologist at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, UK in conjunction with the staff of the Wales Cancer Bank, a multidisciplinary steering committee and with the support of the National Cancer Research Institute Thyroid Cancer Subgroup.
The project also has the support of the UK Endocrine Pathology Society, the International Rare Cancer Initiative, members of Thyroid Cancer Forum-UK and the European Thyroid Association along with thyroid cancer patient charity support from Thyroid Cancer Support Group-Wales and the Butterfly Thyroid Cancer Trust.
Funding has been provided by Thyroid Cancer Support Group Wales (registered charity number 1113774).
There is a website www.inatt.org where you can find further details on iNATT as well as other information related to anaplastic thyroid cancer research.
If you would like to find out more about iNATT please contact the Chief Investigator via contact@thyroid-cancer-forum-uk.org
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LymphomaNon Hodgkin’s lymphoma is another rare thyroid tumour. It is treated like lymphomas that can arise anywhere in the body rather than like the other types of thyroid cancer. The treatment in this case may involve chemotherapy (drug treatment), monoclonal antibody therapy (e.g. rituximab) and radiotherapy (x ray treatment). For further information - www.lymphoma.org |
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Thyroid Cancer Forum UKDr. Kate GarcezChristie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, M20 4BX |
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