Kinkini Gupta
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Written By: Kinkini Gupta | Updated : September 7, 2023 3:07 PM IST
An annual ultrasound provides a detailed image of the thyroid gland, helping identify structural abnormalities like nodules or tumours and preventing potential complications. While less common, assessing calcitonin levels is essential for detecting medullary thyroid cancer. Annual checks contribute to the early identification of this rare but severe condition.
Diseases related to thyroid are common worldwide. Most of these diseases are benign and not dangerous. About 5 percent of thyroid disorders can be malignant, and need surgical treatment. Non-cancerous swellings or benign swellings may be kept under surveillance. Surgery for these is considered only if the swelling is cosmetically bothersome or if the swelling is compressing the food pipe or wind pipe in the neck.
Treatment of thyroid cancer depends on various factors namely, the age and sex of the patient, size of the lesion and presence of lymph node metastasis or distant metastasis. In most of these cases, surgery is the first and foremost choice of treatment. Treatment for each patient may be slightly different from the rest because of these above mentioned factors.
TheHealthsite.com spoke to Dr Akshat Malik, a Head & Neck Cancer Surgeon at Max Superspeciality Hospital, Saket, New Delhi on thyroid treatment, the types of available treatments and how they are done.
Doctor Malik said, "Conventional thyroidectomy means the thyroid gland is removed by giving an incision in the neck. Scarless thyroidectomy refers to a surgical procedure where no visible or apparent scar comes in the neck. Instead, we access the thyroid gland from a distant location, this can be from behind the ear, from the chest or from within the mouth."
When asked about how these surgeries are performed he said,
"As you can understand, we are trying to reach the thyroid gland from a remote location, for this we need certain modifications during the surgery. These can be performed with the help of endoscopic instruments or through a robot. Robotic surgery is preferred in this setting as it allows small instruments to reach inside the neck with good freedom of movement and dexterity."
When asked further about the process of these robotic surgeries, Dr Malik said,
"These are performed by a trained Head & Neck Robotic surgeon. The surgeon uses a surgical robot to perform these cases. The robot has small arms through which fine instruments can go in through smaller incisions and areas. The surgeon operates these from a separate console where he gets a 3-dimensional view of the operating area. The entire surgery is within the control of the surgeon."
Following the surgery, patients are able to move around, eat and drink the same day. A drain is placed to allow the blood getting collected inside to come out, it is removed in a couple of day's time. There is no restriction on patient regarding diet or activities.
Common complications associated with thyroid surgery include vocal cord palsy and/or hypocalcemia. If the nerve supplying the vocal cord is injured during surgery or requires to excised due to involvement of the disease then patient may develop hoarseness of voice. It may be temporary or permanent. Permanent cord palsy may occur in less than 5% of cases. During thyroid surgery if the blood supply to parathyroid glands (related to calcium balance) is affected then the patient may develop hypocalcemia where the blood level of calcium decreases. This may also be temporary or permanent and may require supplementation of calcium. If complete thyroidectomy has been done then patient may require life-long supplementation of thyroid hormone.
