Surgery is typically the first line of treatment for thyroid and parathyroid cancer. Your procedure will likely include one of these operations:
- Thyroidectomy. This operation removes the entire thyroid gland. In most cases, Roswell Park surgeons use very small incisions to remove the thyroid, resulting in minimal scarring and faster recovery. If your entire thyroid gland is removed, you will need to take medication for the rest of your life to replace the hormones that your thyroid gland produced.
- Hemi-thyroidectomy. Depending on the size of the tumor and type of thyroid cancer, you might only need a portion of your thyroid gland removed, an operation called a hemi-thyroidectomy. If you undergo a hemi-thyroidectomy, you will not need to take medication to replace your thyroid hormones.
- Parathyroidectomy. This procedure removes the affected parathyroid glands. In most cases, surgeons will also remove part of the thyroid gland, the “lobe” on the same side as the parathyroid gland that is being removed, plus the “isthmus” (the connection between the two thyroid lobes), as well as lymph nodes around the targeted parathyroid gland and any tissue connected to the tumor.
Most Roswell Park patients can go home the day after thyroid surgery — within 24 hours — and return to normal, non-strenuous activity within a week or less.