Pediatric Thyroid Carcinoma (Cancer)

Follicular is the second most common type in the U.S., and most children with follicular thyroid cancer can be treated successfully if it is diagnosed early.

Medullary

Medullary is a rare type of thyroid cancer, medullary cancer tends to be more aggressive. It can be easier to control if it’s found and treated before it spreads to other parts of the body.

Anaplastic

Anaplastic is the rarest type of thyroid cancer, these cells tend to grow and spread very quickly. Anaplastic thyroid cancer is very hard to control, but occurs almost exclusively in adults.

There are several methods for diagnosing thyroid cancer. Your child’s doctor may use a combination of these methods:

• History and physical exam
• Blood tests to check thyroid hormone levels (thyroid stimulating hormone and calcitonin)
• Genetic testing
• Urine test
• Ultrasound (a noninvasive test that uses sound waves to take pictures of the thyroid)
• Fine needle biopsy (removal of a small amount of thyroid tissue using a thin needle; the tissue is later examined under a microscope.)

The most common treatment for thyroid cancer is surgery to remove all or part of the thyroid gland. A thyroid lobectomy is followed by radioactive therapy. Although pediatric thyroid cancer is usually caught at an advanced stage, it has an excellent prognosis, with long-term survival rates of over 95%.

Additional treatments may include:

• Thyroid hormone therapy: an oral medication taken after surgery to replace the hormones that your child’s body will no longer be able to produce
• Radioactive iodine: an oral medication that destroys any remaining thyroid tissue after surgery
• External radiation therapy: radiation to the neck or other tissues where the cancer may have spread
• Chemotherapy: an oral or intravenous (IV) medication that is used to kill cancer cells