Thyroid nodules are very common especially in women. In this video, Dr. Clayman discusses the most important first step is to be evaluated by an expert with ultrasound and the potential for needle biopsy. Since thyroid nodules are very common and 85% or more are benign, you really need the highest quality ultrasound to examine your thyroid gland, the thyroid nodules, and the lymph nodes of your neck. The ultrasound will look at the nodule (lump) within your thyroid gland, where it is within your thyroid, and its appearance. Lymph nodes around the thyroid gland should also be examined. Sometimes lymph nodes may be more informative than the thyroid nodule, itself. If a biopsy of the thyroid nodule or lymph node is obtained, the doctor that looks at the cells under the microscope, called a cytopathologist, who needs to be equally an expert in thyroid as well. An expert endocrinologist should help guide you through your thyroid nodule evaluation and management.
Hi i’m dr. gary clayman of the claimant thyroid cancer center of tampa florida in this video i’m going to talk to jim about a lump in his thyroid gland jim thank you dr. claman for this opportunity so i was at my breakfast the other day and my white wife noticed when i was swallowing she saw this thing in mind that kind of lump in my neck i went to the doctor
And they said got a lump on my thyroid a nodule i guess they call it then my thyroid and now i’m a bit freaked out what is it was a thyroid nodule what does it mean what what do i got to do yeah great question so the first thing is is that don’t freak out okay nodules lumps in your thyroid gland are very very common especially amongst women women fifty years
Of age almost half of them will have ciphered nodules so it’s very very very common and most of them are benign in fact probably at least 85% or more are likely benign so most of us have thyroid nodules and they’re no big deal when is it a big deal and how do i know so the first thing you have to do is you have to find an expert that’s going to examine you and
Evaluate you for it that’s going to be like an endocrinologist usually in endocrinology okay yeah and the endocrinologist may do their own ultrasound or they may send you to a radiologist that specializes in doing ultrasound of the thyroid and the neck right so that’s what happens so i got sent to an endocrinologist and they ordered an ultrasound of my neck which
I’m going to go get next week is that painful i’m all freaked out about that too yeah so there’s no discomfort at all except for a little bit of pressure on your neck when they put the sort of the magic wand that produces the sound waves that go but you have no radiation exposure and there’s there’s really nice the same sonography counting that they used for like
Babies the exact same stuff okay and they’re going to look at my thyroid nodule and measure and what are they doing and what’s the purpose of all of us okay so the purpose of it they need to look at your thyroid gland they need to look at your whole cyber glands they need to look at the lymph nodes around the thyroid gland and they need to look at the lymph nodes
Of your neck okay and they’re going to measure these things they’ll measure your thyroid gland they’ll measure the lump within your thyroid gland and we’ll even look at its characteristics got it on the ultrasound so and i recently learned by doing my research that you guys have a thyroid nodule app that i can take these measurements from my ultrasound and put
Them in the app in the app will show me a drawing well it will grow my nodule so i can see it we have an app that allows you to put all of your information that you’ve obtained in the evaluation of this lump in your thyroid gland it will ask questions about pimples how old you are and if you’re a man or a woman it’ll get information of your blood tests it will
Take information from the ultrasound it’ll even take information that if they do a needle biopsy of your lump right in your thyroid gland it will take that information and it puts it all together all in an app internet so i get a nagging i guess after i get like an ultrasound i should get this app i can plug all the information and it’s going to tell me good bad
Indifferent tell them what to do and what’s going on it’ll tell you your next step awesome
Transcribed from video
Thyroid Nodule – What Should I Do? By Clayman Thyroid Cancer Center