What are ways to tell if a lump on the thyroid is cancer?
There are a number of ways to tell if a lump on the thyroid is cancer. And ultrasound is one of the first tools utilized. Another common test used for diagnosis is a radioiodine scan. Both of these tests are ways to tell if a lump on the thyroid is cancer—though neither of these tests can actually confirm a diagnosis. What they can do is indicate whether or not a nodule looks suspicious enough to warrant a biopsy of the lump. And, it's the biopsy, that's the gold standard for diagnosing thyroid cancer. But thyroid cancer can be tricky. About 5 percent of these biopsies come back as malignant and another 10 percent come back as suspicious. Typically, with suspicious nodules, patients are referred for surgery and, in most cases, the nodule, lobe, or entire thyroid gland is then removed. The nodule is then thoroughly analyzed for evidence of cancer. Kind of a bummer if it turns out that you've removed a perfectly healthy thyroid gland. But I guess there's just no way around it.
