Tuesday, May 31, 2011

This pisses me off even more . .

Hum Reprod. 2008 Feb;23(2):451-6. Epub 2007 Dec 6.
Risk of thyroid cancer after exposure to fertility drugs: results from a large Danish cohort study.
Hannibal CG, Jensen A, Sharif H, Kjaer SK.

Department of Viruses, Hormones and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, Strandboulevarden 49,2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.

BACKGROUND:

Findings from the few epidemiological studies that have investigated thyroid cancer risk after fertility drugs have been inconclusive. Using data from the largest cohort of infertile women to date, we examined the effects of fertility drugs on thyroid cancer risk.
METHODS:

A cohort of 54 362 women with infertility problems referred to Danish fertility clinics in the period 1963-1998 was established. A detailed data collection including information about type and amount of treatment was conducted. Using case-cohort techniques, we calculated rate ratios (RRs) of thyroid cancer associated with different fertility drugs after adjustment for age at first live birth.

RESULTS:

A total of 29 thyroid cancers were identified during follow-up through 2000. Use of clomiphene [RR = 2.28; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.08-4.82] or progesterone (RR = 10.14; 95% CI: 1.93-53.33) was associated with an increased thyroid cancer risk, although the latter estimate was based on few cases. When stratifying for parity status, the risk was primarily associated with clomiphene (RR = 3.09; 95% CI: 1.21-7.88) in parous women. No significantly increased risk was found after use of gonadotrophins, hCG or GnRH. We observed no association with number of cycles of use or years since first use (latency).

CONCLUSIONS:

Clomiphene and possibly progesterone may increase thyroid cancer risk, particularly among parous women. Longer follow-up is needed to confirm our findings.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

I look good with cancer, right?

Just kidding. This was me on our trip to Jamaica in may while awaiting the biopsy results, just before I knew what was cooking in my throat ;)

P1020770

I have thyroid cancer? Ah, shit...

As of now, it’s probably papillary carcinoma, which is 95% "curable", especially for those under 45 years old, and for the size of my tumor. Unfortunately, there is that 5%, which doesn't sound like much . . . but only 5% of all thyroid lumps are cancerous, and I already got crapped on with those odds.

 When they take it out, they’ll be able to tell if it was papillary, or one of 3 other types of thyroid cancers that are either just as curable or very aggressive. I’m not thinking about those now

 So, basically, I have the surgery to get the thyroid out. They examine the tumor and decide what type it was. During the surgery, they biopsy the lymph nodes around the area to see if it has spread. If it was papillary cancer, then I’ll get a month for recovery (in the summer, yay!) and then take a dose of radioactive iodine, which travels to any remaining tumor cells and kill them off. Done deal.

If the papillary cancer has spread to the lymph nodes (50% of the time it does, ugh), then I'll need a radical neck resection to remove those. They can only do one side of the neck at a time, with two months between surgeries, b/c of risk of swelling, and the extensiveness of that surgery.

I'm looking at 1, 2, or 3 surgeries, plus radioactive iodine. I'll glow in the dark, so you won't miss me :)