Dr. Kristen Otto from Moffitt Cancer Center provides an overview of the different types of thyroid cancer. Dr. Otto explains which forms are most common and highly treatable, and which rare types are more aggressive.
Dr. Kristen Otto is a Head and Neck Endocrine Surgeon and an Associate Member in the Department of Head & Neck – Endocrine Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Otto.
Related Resources
Transcript
Katherine Banwell:
Let’s start with the basics. First, what are the types of thyroid cancer?
Dr. Kristen Otto:
Very good question. So, by far, the most common type of thyroid cancer is papillary thyroid cancer. That occurs in probably 80 to 85 percent of cases of thyroid cancer.
It’s a very predictable tumor, and one we understand has a very good outcome. We lump together thyroid cancers that we call differentiated thyroid cancers, and those are traditionally tumors that are made up of normal thyroid cells, and those are the papillary cancers, the follicular thyroid cancers, and then a smaller subtype of follicular cancers called oncocytic thyroid cancers. Those are generally considered to be still very responsive to treatment, very predictable in their behavior, and with very good outcomes.
As we move along – and also very differentiated tumors that are ones that look more like normal thyroid tissue. And then as we move along the spectrum, we start to see more aggressive thyroid cancers. And so, each of those tumors – papillary, follicular, oncocytic – can have a version that we call high-grade.
And if we start to see something that looks more high-grade, we know it’s going to have a more aggressive clinical course. There’s a type of thyroid cancer called poorly differentiated thyroid cancer, which is even less predictable in its behavior and more aggressive in its clinical course.
And then among the end of the spectrum is the most aggressive form of thyroid cancer, probably considered the most aggressive solid human tumor, and that’s anaplastic thyroid cancer. Fortunately, anaplastic thyroid cancer, or so-called “undifferentiated thyroid cancer,” same thing, is extremely rare because it has a very aggressive and rapidly fatal clinical course in many instances with some small exceptions. There’s also a rare tumor called medullary thyroid cancer.
Medullary cancer is oftentimes considered to be in the hereditary spectrum of thyroid cancers, and it’s made up of a different cell. It’s not the typical thyroid hormone-producing cell, but it’s a supporting cell in the thyroid. And it goes along with some other – often can go along with some other tumors in the head and neck, and in the abdomen, as well.