FOCUS ON GENETICS

ALTHOUGH THYROID CANCERS are not too common, research in this field mainly focusses on genetics to track risk potential, says Dr Chadha. Early signs may include thyroid nodules or lumps, but only one out of 10 turns out to be cancerous. Diagnosis is mostly done through blood test, ultrasound, CT scan or FNAC (fine-needle aspiration cytology) test, in which a hollow needle is inserted into the nodules or the mass for a sampling of cells as their morphology helps determine whether they are carcinogenic or not. However, a genetic study of the thyroid nodules could help pick up signals for potential malignant cases, and research is going on to find new genetic markers which can identify cases with increasing risk of cancer. Such detection will be extremely helpful as every patient with a thyroid disorder would not be required to undergo surgery.