Papillary Tumors

Question: Why would a thyroid tumor have both papillary and follicular cells? My friend was just dx'd w/ thyroid cancer. She had surgery to remove the 1.2 centimeter tumor in the middle of her thyroid. 3 of the 6 lymph nodes that were taken were found to also have cancer. Why would her tumor be both papillary AND follicular? What does that mean for her?

Answer: Thyroid cancer is not rare. It's the easiest to cure. I am surprised they did not take all the thyroid. All this means is the thyroid cancer went into the nodes. I had thyroid cancer the same kind with lymph nodes also cancer seeded with thyroid. I was given after surgery, radio-active iodine in large doses to get rid of all thyroid cancer several times. And yes you are radio-active to others. You stay away from children, women who are prego. It's not as bad as you think I am still here and trust my doctor to do his best for me. I sure will be praying for your friend. Now smile people do care.

Question: Will Medicare pay for a PET scan for uterine tumors of the papillary serous cell type? Where is the gov websit

Answer: I found some information here...http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pub… Do you already have the disease? It looks like if you don't have it already, it might not cover it...but if you have it, they might pay for it... Good look to you...

Question: my father was diagonised with grade 2 transitional cell papillary cell carcinoma of the bladder.? the tumour size was big 10cm. since he is 67 years old and has heart problems was adviced radiation therapy. after 21 radiations the tumour size waas considrably reduuced and what was remaining was removed by cystoscopy. the parts removed by cystoscopy showed positive in biopsy. what does this mean , can anybody please tell me what to expect now, whether he is still in the clutches of cancer or not?

Answer: Everyone has 70-80,000 cancer cells in our body every single day. If the immune system is compromised because of poor diet, stress from toxins in the environment etc... It can lead to allowing cancer to proliferate unchecked. Just because cancer is undetectable after removing a tumor or the horse is in the barn due to shrinkage, it does not mean that little individual cells are no longer looking for a new home to grow a tumor in i.e., the brain, liver, or bone. Learn cancer prevention. Learn about antioxidants. Learn what is effective and what isn't. Learn how to live a lifestyle of prevention and optimal health to survive on in a toxic world.

Question: Anyone have experience with papillary thyroid cancer? Just wondering about RAI 131 treatment, and the incidence of recurrence...tumor well defined...2cm with no spread to lymph nodes.

Answer: Your outcome without lymph node involvement sounds excellent! If the cancer takes the I131 well then hopefully only one treatment is needed. My thyroid cancer for a 30 year old female was not caught early, I had of course thyroid involvement, over 40 nodes plus a sneaky one near the heart causing problems. So yours was caught at a perfect time. Be sure to do the Low Iodine Diet - I was never told about it the first few treatments I had! I have a site for thyroid cancer patients if you are interested in asking questions or answering others it is, on the source site below. Talk to you there!

Question: Thyroid: Suspicious for Papillary Carcinoma? One of my friends has a lump on her thyroid that you can see. She had a biopsy 3 years ago and it came back suspicious for papilary carcinoma. The doctors told her that her only option was to remove her WHOLE thyroid - (the tumor is only on her right side) then they would know 100% certain if it was cancer or not. But then that means she would have to take synthroid for the rest of her life and she can't live with that. She also can't live with a scar. She says she'd rather die than have her entire thyroid removed. It's been 3 years, she seems fine, but her hair is getting thinner and thinner, and she's gained about 30 pounds. She says the only way she'd CONSIDER surgery is if they'd only remove the part of her thyroid that has the tumor - but Dr's REFUSE to only remove 1/2. They told her it's all or nothing. So she chose nothing. Does anyone have any suggestions? Even homeopathic answers are appreciated. PS - She's not overly motivated to take care of this, which bother me and all her friends. She has no fear of death, and actually keeps saying that she's run out of things to do and hopes she doesn't live to be 40-45! Yes, yes, she's in therapy and on anti-depressants. She's not suicidal - she's just "indifferent" about dying. The only way to motivate her healthwise is if her COMFORT is threatened. Meaning: she'll only go to the doctor for something if she's in pain or something is causing her discomfort. She say's the thyoid isn't causing pain or discomfort - so "why should I put myself in pain and discomfort of surgery to remove something that's not bothering me?". Plus - she's VERY irresponsible - remembering to take a pill everyday for the rest of her life - she can't do - it's "too much commitment". She can't even remember to take birth control pills and she's got more motivation to take those than synthroid. (She hates kids and her period - which the pill cures)

Answer: I had a swollen nodule in my L Thyroid, that was painless. So I did nothing for 5 years. I was gaining weight even though I was taking Levoxyl every day. My Dr. finally asked me to have an ultrasound w/ biopsy. Turned out to be CA. I only let them remove that side. Needless to say, lab results of that side said the CA had metastasized and I had to get the other side removed within 4 wks of my 1st surgery.Both surgeries were uneventful and my scar is invisable to the eye(got cut open twice too!) I also took radiation so to be certain all was gone. I'm on med's forever. All this happened Nov. 2006-May2007. I've lost 15lbs and never felt or looked better. Loving and Living Life

Question: thyroid cancer? Husband just had his total thyroid removed. Found out the tumor is papillary and small, but lymph nodes have cancer. He has to wait till the first of the year to do the radioactive iodine then a week later he does a body scan. I'm scaried to death to wait so long for the body scan. This waiting in llimbo is making me crazy. I think his age seems to be a factor, he's 58. I'm very concerned what will follow...............

Answer: Hi. I am the mother of a vibrant 15 yr. old girl that also has thyroid cancer. She was dx in July with papillary thyroid cancer with a follicular variant. First of all, please visit www.thyca.org and take plenty of time to read through everything. Be very careful getting info. on the Internet, as it is often misleading & false. Just to compare time lines, my daughter had 2 surgeries in July and did nto have the radioactive iodine tx and body scan until October. She also had some lymph nodes removed in her 2nd surgery. It is okay to wait for the scan & the RAI. Now, you don't want to wait years or anything, but it is not uncommon to wait anywhere from 6 weeks to 4 months. Let me also tell you that pap. thyca. is very very treatable! Visit that website and gather info. for you and your husband. I wish you the best of luck on your thyca journey. Stay strong and take care.

Question: Kidney cancer drug Sutent? My mom was just diagnosed with Papillary Renal cell carcinoma. She has 4 tumors on the right kidney and 1 very large tumor in the kidney. Her kidney is now turned horizontal instead of lateral. After the biopsy results, the dr has decided to put her on Sutent to try to shrink the tumors so they can remove the kidney. The tumors are so large and wrapped around her artery and veins going in and out of the kidney that surgery isn't an option right now. Does anyone know or have any experience with this situation and how good this drug is? I would appreciate any help as my mom is 72 and has a pacemaker for a-fib heart problems.

Answer: My mum was diagnosed with stage 4 renal cell carcinoma last may. When discovered she had a 5 cm tumor on her right kidney. At first thought the oncologist was going to removed the kidney that was before they did a ct scan a realised it had spread to Mums liver and lungs. Mum had 3 2 cm tumours in her liver and 'numerous' spots on her lungs. It was VERY aggressive the cancer. When Mum was re scanned 6 weeks later the tumor on her kidney was BIGGER than the kidney itself there was NO normal tissue left. One of the 3cm tumors in the liver had grown to OVER 12 cm. And the spots on th lungs had doubled and multiplied. Obviously by this stage there wasn't many treatment options. The oncology team decided to put Mum on the drug called sutent which in Melbourne is a trial drug. We were told by the oncology team that sutent DOES NOT at all shrink the tumours it would just stop them from growing anymore. I would talk to your oncologist again because i know it definitely isn't designed to shrink cancer tumors. I will just let you know briefly how sutent affected my Mum. Once again your Mum may have a different reaction. When Mum started taking it she was mobile and could get around the house and eat small amounts. About 4 days into treatment she became bed ridden, lost control of her bowels and bladder and couldn't walk un aided due to her weak legs. It made her even MORE nauseous than she was feeling prior to taking treatment. In Mums case it was a waste of time because the cancer had progressed to far by that stage. It was actually the worst thing we could have done but that was our only hope for survival. We would have been better off letting Mum enjoy what little time she had left .The biggest risk with your Mum is whether it has spread??? If it has yet she will have more positive results, but if they cant remove it the cancer will eventually spread thru her body as the masses get bigger. Mum pasted away 4 months after diagnosis aged only 60. I have a lot of info on kidney cancer drawn from personal experience so if you need any help or info please email me, x

Question: Treatment options for a 40 yr woman whose biopsy reports are suggestive of her having serous cystadeocarcinoma Treatment options for a 40 yr woman whose biopsy reports are suggestive of her having serous cystadeocarcinoma of ovary after cystectomy of right ovary? a 40 year old nulliparous(childless)woman (widow in first marriage lasting 5 to 6 years and married to a widower 6 months back) with no serious medical history in life underwent ovarian(right ovary) cystectomy 3 weeks back and diagnosed(as per biopsy report) of having 'serous cystadeocarcinoma of ovary'; she is,however,desirous of bearing a son for the second husband who is having 2 daughters(of 10 and 4 years) and whose wife died of hydatid cysts in lungs a year ago. What are the treatment options for her now ?(18/10/2006) Reply to This Message Yet another biopsy report received on 19/10/2006 states,after gross examination of six slides and blocks of ovarian cyst(post-operation) and microscopic examination,that sections show ovarian tissue with tumour tissue,which is arranged in glandular pattern lined by multilayered anaplastic epithelial cells thrown into papillary fronds,in solid nests separated by fibrous stroma,in cords and discretely infiltrating into the stroma.The cells are round to oval to spindloid with round to oval to elongated nuclei showing moderate to severe degree of pleomorphism,prominent nucleoli's and abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm.The stroma shows desmoplastic reaction with areas of necrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration.The impression: Picture is suggestive of two possiblities:-1.Malignant Brenner tumor 2.Poorly differentiated papillary serous cystadeocarcinoma of ovary. Advised clinical correlation

Answer: Wow harsh. The biopsy sounds malignant. Brenner Tumours are a type of Surface Epithelial Stromal tumour (usually of the ovary) Big picture: options are (1) Adopt or (2) try to have your own biological children (2) could be easy or hard depending on the nature of the remaining ovary. Is there any evidence to suggest the LEFT ovary is cancerous? You mention a biopsy but do not tell us if this is the pathology from the excision of the RIGHT ovary or if someone has taken a sample of the left and this is the biopsy result. Furthermore, the other missing bit of information is if the margins of the biopsy are clear of cancer. If they are not, this implies that there are cancerous cells still present in her pelvis. If there is no cancer in the left ovary and the margins are clear- she should try to have children the usual way. Some doctors would argue that she should have a full screen to make sure she has not gotten spread of her disease (CA-125 level, CT abdo/pelvis, urine dipstick) If there is cancer in the left ovary or the margins are not clear- there is little chance for her to have children the usual way. She might be able to seek the opinion of an assisted reproduction specialist but their assistance in these matters might not help. The only way I can see her having her own biological children in this last scenario is quite an arduous process: FIRST - harvest eggs and store them (with or without fertilisation) THEN deal with the tumour - incl perhaps removal of the remaining ovary. Perhaps her uterus might have to be removed as well. Chemotherapy may be needed. ONCE the dust has settled: If her uterus is spared, the ova/embryos can be implanted (they would have to be fertilised, of course) If her uterus is gone, she would have to seek a surrogate to carry the embryo. This is a long and arduous pathway with little guarantee to have a healthy son at the end of it. Given her age, there is the additional risk of chromosomal abnormalities. Which brings us back to adoption.

Question: Recurrances after total thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer? I was told that there's a risk (not a huge one, but it's there nonetheless) of a recurrance. I had papillary carcinoma cancer in my thyroid that was caught very early. On April 2nd, I had my thyroid and one attached lymph node removed. I opted to not receive radiation, as the risks involved with radiation are higher than the risks of recurrance of the cancer, since it was so contained. I had a multi-nodular thyroid. The largest tumor was 1.1cm, and there were a few tiny other tumors that were also in early stages of cancer. The lymph node was fine. So I'm just curious if anyone here has experience with this. Any suggestions, answers, etc. would be appreciated. Thanks!

Answer: Your doctors should have gone over all of this with you so that you could make an informed decision. If you are questioning that now you should get a second opinion. Radiation is usually used in more advanced cases and I’m not sure why that would be a recommendation. There are several factors that help determine the chance of recurrence and you only mention a few, so there is no way to comment or compare to anyone else. The good news is the mortality rate for papillary carcinomas of the thyroid are pretty good with 3-12% of patients who die from this disease. The rough 10-year survival rates (not taking other factors into consideration) is 95% for patients under 40 years-old and 75% for patients over 40 years-old.

Question: thyroid cancer? I had a tumor 2x2.5x3cm in my thryoid.. total removal of thyroid has been done two weeks ago. It was diagnosed as hurthle cell variant of papillary cancer. What is the usual protocol in australia for this? Has anyone had cancer in their thyroid and NOT had RAI??

Answer: I don`t know the protocal in Australia, but I had my thyroid totally removed in 1981 because of papillairy cancer. Thankfully it is a very slow growing cancer. Mine was also classified as metasized cause it had spread to lymph nodes in the neck. All I needed to do was have radio-active iodine. I go for yearly scans just to be sure the cancer is not present anywhere in my body.