Head and Neck Cancer

Thyroglobulin with goiter on neck

08/05/2008 12:53PM

Question:

I have a goiter in the neck. My blood report of my thyroid is below: T3 0.96 ng/mL ( 0.8 – 2 ) T4 6.49 ng/dL ( 5.1 – 14.1 ) FT4 1.25 ng/dL ( 0.93 – 1.7 ) TSH 1.7 mIU/L ( 0.27 – 4.2 ) Thyroglobulin (TG) 180.1 ng/mL ( 1.4 – 78 )
Before the T3 and T4 is not normal, after medicine become normal. My doctor says that because the Thyroglobulin TG is so high, it might be cancer. Doctor says I need to have a general surgeon cut half of the thyroid, and after cut out, check out if the goiter is cancer and needs to cut the other side of my thyroid.
In here I want to ask, without surgery, in what way can it be determined if my thyroid is a cancer tumor or not? If there is no way to know about it, what kind of surgery is good? Hope doctor can help me. And one more question, Thyroglobulin TG is that the same of Thyroglobulin Antibody? Thank your very much.

Answer:

TG is different from TG antibody. Ultrasound and needle biopsy may help determine if there is cancer within the gland prior to surgery. A very large goiter alone may be enough of a reason to remove, however.

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Response by:

Jeffrey J. Sussman, MD
Associate Professor & Chief
Division of Surgical Oncology
Department of Surgery
College of Medicine
University of Cincinnati