Thyroid cancer

Thyroid cancer is cancer in the thyroid gland. Doctors can find thyroid cancer by checking for swelling in the neck, blood tests, special scans, or taking a biopsy.

Types

There are four types of thyroid cancer:^[1]

Type of Thyroid Cancer:	This Type Makes Up...	Does it Grow Slowly or Quickly?	Can it Metastasize (Spread)?	How Do People Do with Treatment?
Papillary	70% of all thyroid cancers	Slowly	Yes, but not quickly	People do well with treatment; patients under 45 rarely die from papillary thyroid cancer
Follicular	10-15% of all thyroid cancers	Slowly	Yes, through the bloodstream and into other organs, like the lungs	People do well with treatment; patients under 45 rarely die from follicular thyroid cancer
Medullary	4% of all thyroid cancers	Usually slowly	Yes, early on	People do well if the cancer is only in the thyroid gland, but not as well if it has spread to other body parts
Anaplastic	2% of all thyroid cancers	Quickest of all thyroid cancers	Yes, very quickly