Thyroid Cancer

After years in the shadow of more common cancers, there’s new light for patients with thyroid cancer. Increased use of neck ultrasounds has driven up the number of people globally who are diagnosed with thyroid cancer, which has brought new attention to the disease. It’s now the ninth most common cancer worldwide.

Although it may seem very beneficial to do everything possible to treat a disease, new research led by the Rogel Cancer Center shows that, in the case of long-term surveillance of treated, low-risk thyroid cancer, doing everything possible drives up cost without improving outcomes.

A new survey by researchers at the U-M Rogel Cancer Center and Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation suggests many patients are receiving the treatment when there’s no strong indication of benefit.

A large study shows bone complications in thyroid cancer are an indicator of a poor prognosis, suggesting the need for more drug research.

The number of people diagnosed with thyroid cancer is increasing -- one of the few cancers for which this is still the case. But a subset of these patients may be getting overdiagnosed with cancer.