The type of treatment your doctor recommends will depend on the type and stage of the thyroid cancer, and your age and general health. Sometimes no treatment is needed right away (see active surveillance), but when it is, a combination of treatments is often used.
Treatment commonly includes surgery, thyroid hormone replacement therapy and radioactive iodine treatment. Less often, people may also have targeted therapy, radiation therapy or chemotherapy.
Learn more about:
- Making treatment decisions
- Active surveillance
- Surgery
- Thyroid hormone replacement therapy
- Radioactive iodine treatment
- Targeted therapy
- External beam radiation therapy
- Chemotherapy
- Immunotherapy and radionuclide therapy
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A/Prof Diana Learoyd, Endocrinologist, GenesisCare North Shore, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, NSW; Emeritus Professor Leigh Delbridge AM, The University of Sydney, Thyroid Surgeon, The Mater and North Shore Private Hospitals, NSW; Prof Ruta Gupta, Tissue Pathology and Diagnostic Oncology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and The University of Sydney, NSW; Susan Leonard, Cancer Nurse Coordinator Thyroid and Brachytherapy, Cancer Care Services, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, QLD; Dr Dean Lisewski, Endocrine and General Surgeon, Fiona Stanley Hospital and St John of God Hospital, Murdoch, WA; Caitriona Nienaber, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council WA; Jonathan Park, Consumer; A/Prof David Pattison, Deputy Director and Senior Staff Specialist, Department of Nuclear Medicine and Specialised PET Services, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and School of Medicine, University of Queensland, QLD; Prof Bruce Robinson, Endocrinologist, Co-Head, Cancer Genetics, Kolling Institute of Medical Research, The University of Sydney and Royal North Shore Hospital, NSW; Marissa Ryan, Team Leader (Cancer) Pharmacist, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, QLD.
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