So They Say You've Got a Thyroid Nodule... Now What?

Thyroid nodules are mostly benign (80-85% of the time) and common in women, but cause a lot of anxiety as patients as patients are diagnosed with them.  Thyroid Cancer happens to be one of the most treatable cancers, however, most people think of cancer as a possible death sentence.  So someone with a newly diagnosed problem can become quite concerned when all of a sudden a new problem has been discovered.

Most of the time these nodules are incidental and the patient doesn't actually have any symptoms related to the nodules.   Oftentimes, a chest X-ray, a carotid sonogram, CT of spine or Chest, PET scan, or even a doctor feeling your neck may lead to a Thyroid Sonogram that will find something.  From there, patients tend to get lost in the shuffle of tests and appointments and before you know it are having surgery because they had posterior neck pain and had imaging which showed a nodule.  Even worse, the reason they had the test in the first place hasn't been addressed.  No one should feel so lost in the medical system with a problem that is usually nothing to lose sleep over.

This is a MindMap to help you navigate that confusion.  The Start Slideshow Play button is useful if you have never used a Mind Map before.  It will take you on a fly by of the interactive map, giving you a sense of how you can navigate it yourself.  Click the diagonal arrows in the top right corner if you want to go full screen navigate a bigger map.  A mobile friendly version button is provided for those on smaller devices.  This will allow you to take a journey from thyroid blood tests to biopsy results and understand some of the treatment options.  This does not replace medical judgement and decision making by a qualified Physician, but was created to educate.  Once you understand this process, head over to the "most confusing thyroid nodule" to gain insight into what the needle biopsy results mean.