follicular adenocarcinoma of the thyroid
Last reviewed 01/2018
- accounts for about 10% of thyroid cancer with females affected three times as frequently as males and with a peak incidence at 55 years of age
- usually unifocal and rarely spreads to lymph nodes. It is angioinvasive to lungs and bone in over 50% of cases and this may be the first sign of malignancy
- it is a well differentiated tumour and shows reasonable response to TSH. It may take up iodine and may form thyroid hormones. Very rarely, it produces hyperthyroidism
- usually treated with surgery, which can be supplemented with radioiodine ablation. Survival rates are excellent
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