A novel test that looks for a molecular fingerprint in needle biopsies could help improve the diagnosis of thyroid cancer and reduce unnecessary surgeries, according to new research.
A new thyroid cancer test could prevent unnecessary invasive procedures.
A recent PNAS paper describes the new test and how it performed in a pilot study.
The findings showed the new method to be faster and around two-thirds more accurate than those that doctors currently rely on to diagnose thyroid cancer.
The researchers say that larger trials now need to validate these early findings before doctors can start using the new test as part of routine clinical diagnosis of thyroid cancer.
Should the larger studies confirm the findings, the new test could prevent thousands of unnecessary partial or total thyroid removals each year in the United States.
Many patients who undergo thyroid removal have to take hormone replacement therapy for the rest of their lives.
“If we could prevent people from having surgery they don’t need and enable them to have a more precise diagnosis,” says co-senior study author Livia S. Eberlin, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry and diagnostic medicine at The University of Texas at Austin, “we can improve treatment for patients and lower costs for the healthcare system.”
The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the base of the throat under the Adam’s apple, or thyroid cartilage. The gland has an important role in the endocrine system.
With the help of iodine, the thyroid gland releases hormones that control metabolic rate, heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure.
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Since 1992, annual rates of thyroid cancer diagnoses in the U.S. have climbed from 6 to more than 14 per 100,000 adults, according to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The NCI’s SEER program also estimate that there were 822,242 people living with thyroid cancer in the U.S. in 2016.
The American Cancer Society suggest that the main reason for the dramatic rise in thyroid cancer diagnoses in recent decades is the greater use of diagnostic technology such as ultrasound that can spot small nodules in the thyroid.
