Best Treatments for Thyroid Cancer
Since the beginning of 2024, the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition (SEEN) has been running the campaign “12 months of endocrinology and nutrition, 12 steps to health.” We dedicate May to the thyroid gland taking advantage of World Day, which is celebrated on May 25th. In this sense, its representatives highlighted the therapeutic advances already approved for the treatment of thyroid cancer based on precision medicine and called for more support to improve access.
“Until recently, there were no therapeutic options for patients with advanced thyroid cancer, and although not all tumors can yet be cured, great progress has been made in this regard,” says Carles Zafon, SEEN Thyroid Unit Coordinator. This highlights the progress made in knowledge genetic changes that determine cancer and that specific treatments are emerging.
The main new products are based on targeted therapy for cancer to tumor cells, much more effectively and with fewer side effects, thereby improving the quality of life of patients. These include drugs for specific molecular targets, indicated when the prognosis of the tumor is poor.
New opportunities
On the other hand, Safon believes that the availability of this type of therapy should be more flexible and accessible. that the patients who may benefit from them Don’t waste opportunities or time on procedures. “The time it takes between approval of a drug and its availability in medical practice is excessive, and the problem typically lies in the bureaucratic processes as well as the economic negotiations required to obtain approval for its use,” he says. .
It must be taken into account that Thyroid cancer is the fifth most common cancer among women and accounts for 2% of all cancer cases. It most often occurs in people between 35 and 55 years of age, although it can occur at any age.
It is a tumor that does not cause obvious symptoms, and its diagnosis is usually made based on examination of a tumor in the neck area, discovered by the patient himself or, in many cases, chance find when conducting imaging studies (CT, ultrasound, etc.). The most common is papillary carcinoma, which accounts for more than 80% of tumors of this type. Regarding prognosis, survival is usually favorable, with a low percentage of cases that cannot be cured.