Thyroid cancer continues to be overdiagnosed, though the survival rate remains unchanged, according to a study published Feb. 5 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
Here are five notes from the study:
- Researchers from Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai led the study, which analyzed publicly available data of more than 91,000 thyroid cancer patients from between 1975 and 2019, according to a Feb. 5 news release from the health system.
- Thyroid cancer incidence has "increased disproportionately" among women ages 40-69 and men ages 50-79, with a significant increase seen among women, the release said.
- "Doctors are finding thyroid nodules that would not have been detected in previous decades, leading to more biopsies and diagnoses of small, slow-growing thyroid cancers that might not require treatment," Zachary Zumsteg, MD, associate professor of radiation oncology and biomedical sciences at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, said in the release.
- Researchers recommend raising the imaging and biopsy thresholds for thyroid nodules to reduce overdiagnosis, and employ less aggressive care plans to reduce overtreatment.
- Cedars-Sinai is conducting clinical trials to study active surveillance of thyroid cancer, where surgery is performed only if routine imaging shows the cancer is growing.
"The hope is that these trials will make clinicians and patients more comfortable with active surveillance and that updated clinical guidelines will bring the practice into widespread use," Allen Ho, MD, co-director of the Thyroid Cancer Program and professor of surgery at Cedars-Sinai, said in the release.
Read the full study here.