Download Thyroid Cancer Treatment

Thyroid Cancer Treatment
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The thyroid gland naturally absorbs nearly all the iodine in the blood. Radioactive iodine
therapy takes advantage of this to kill cancerous cells without affecting the rest of the body.
The Feedback Loop:
How Radioactive Iodine Therapy Works:
The hypothalamus produces thyrotropin-releasing
hormone (TRH), which stimulates the pituitary
gland to make thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH).
C CELL
A
NORMAL THYROID
FOLLICULAR CELL
1
The thyroid gland
is made up of
two main types
of cells: thyroid
follicular cells and
C cells. Thyroid
follicular cells
are the only cells
in the body that
absorb iodine,
which is used to
create thyroid
hormones.
HYPOTHALAMUS
T R E AT M E N T S
PITUITARY
GLAND
TRH
5
4
The hypothalamus senses
the level of thyroid hormones
in the body and mediates a
feedback loop.
Low levels of thyroid hormones
stimulate the production of TRH
and subsequently higher levels
of TSH and thyroid hormones.
High levels of thyroid hormones
inhibit the production of TRH,
which lowers TSH, thereby
regulating thyroid function.
THYROID
HORMONES
]
TSH
MALIGNANT THYROID
FOLLICULAR CELL
2
THYROID
GLAND
THYROID
HORMONES
TSH is
transported
via the blood
to the thyroid
gland.
C CELL
3
TSH causes the thyroid gland
to produce thyroid hormones
needed to regulate the body’s
metabolism.
B
RADIOACTIVE
IODINE
IODINE
C
Before treatment, thyroid cancer patients
stop taking thyroid hormone pills. This
signals the brain to raise the levels of TSH
in the blood. In turn, TSH stimulates thyroid
follicular cells, including those that are
malignant, to more actively absorb the
radioactive iodine.
Radioactive iodine does not work against
medullary thyroid cancer, a more rare type of
the disease that develops from the C cells,
which do not take up iodine.
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CURE’S ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO CANCER
ILLUSTRATION BY PAM CURRY
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN “THE GOOD CANCER?” CURE SPRING 2009
©CURE Media Group For patient handouts only