Thyroid Cancer Treatment

Although a cancer diagnosis can be devastating, thyroid cancer is one of the most curable and has one of the best survival rates. Our team at Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute has decades of experience successfully treating patients with thyroid cancer.

Expert thyroid cancer treatment at AHN

Patients travel to the Cancer Institute from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia because we provide positive outcomes for patients with the most complicated diagnoses. At the Cancer Institute, you can expect care that is:

• Expert: We have one of the busiest thyroid cancer treatment centers in the region, so our physicians, surgeons, and endocrinologists have a lot of experience treating people with this disease.
• Collaborative: A skilled team, including an endocrinologist, surgeon, oncologist, and ENT, works together to determine an individualized treatment plan to best meet your needs.
• Patient-centered: You are the focus of everything we do. We meet with you and your family to discuss the details of your care plan so you feel confident and informed. We offer robust support services to keep you living the best quality of life during treatment.

Treatment options for thyroid cancer

After we confirm the diagnosis and stage of the cancer, our highly experienced team reviews your case to establish a personalized treatment plan.

For most early-stage thyroid cancer, the treatment is:

1. Lobectomy: Our accomplished surgeons remove the entire thyroid or a part of it.
2. Radioactive iodine: An endocrinologist (a physician who treats hormone disorders) prescribes radioactive iodine (in liquid or capsule form) to be taken by mouth. It destroys any thyroid cells that might be left after surgery, but does not harm any other tissue within the body.

For more advanced cases, other treatment options may include:

• Chemotherapy: These powerful medications destroy the cancer. They may also cause side effects. Our team works with you to minimize the side effects as much as possible.
• Targeted therapy: This therapy causes fewer side effects than chemotherapy. It works by attacking specific genes within the surrounding blood vessels to stop the cancer from growing.
• Hormone therapy: Your thyroid secretes, or releases, many hormones that the body needs. Thyroid cancer can prevent the thyroid from doing its job. Hormone therapy uses drugs to replace those hormones. The medication often slows the growth of cancer cells as well.

Contact us

Call the AHN Cancer Help Line anytime at (412) NURSE-4-U (412) 687-7348 to schedule a cancer-related appointment or to just talk with our nurses about diagnoses, treatments, and side effects.