Thyroid Gland: All You Need to Know About the Thyroid Gland part two

As different as the thyroid problems may be, there is a treatment for each and one of them. Some are more complicated, others are very simple.

For example, if the thyroid gland produces a quantity of hormones much greater than necessary, doctors might choose to remove the gland. In contrast, if the thyroid produces less hormones, hormone pills are given to the patient, in order to balance the hormonal production. This pill must be taken once a day.

If lumps or goiters are the thyroid problems one may experience, the treatment is set after a thorough investigation. Thyroid lumps can be malign or benign. Joyfully, most of these lumps are benign. But they also must be treated. It is best to try at first a treatment through hormones. The effect is the shrinkage of the lump and it usually takes three up to six months.There is also the case in which this mass will not shrink, even if treated with these medication. The procedure then is to remove the lump completely.

As i have said before, most of them are benign. But if it were the case that the lump should turn up to be malign, other treatments are necessary. It is first recommended that a fine needle aspiration to be made, to determine the state of the lump. If it turns out to be cancerous, then surgery is absolutely necessary.

Surgery is a must in cases of thyroid cancer, because a part of the thyroid or even the whole gland must be removed. Before undergoing surgery, the doctor will tell you what your options are. Not always surgeons know if they are going to remove the whole gland or just parts of it. This fact is usually discussed in the surgery room, while the operating takes place. The doctors, after removing one lobe of the thyroid, do a microscopic reading to determine if the other part of the gland must be removed as well. This test is called a frozen section. This test is taken every time because doctors must be sure what to do next.

After the operation took place, a tube will be inserted into the wound. This drain has the role to prevent fluid to build up in the wound. That tube is removed when chances of the fluid building are minimal. Hospitalization does not take long, patients are known to be released from hospital as soon as three days after the surgery. There are almost zero complications after surgery, but if indeed they exist, they are not of a high importance. Little bleeding, small problems in swallowing, numbness of the neck.

If thyroid surgery is performed to a patient, that person might have to take medication in order to replace the thyroid hormones. Because there is the risk of low calcium in the blood, some might also have to take calcium as well.This fact depends on how much of the thyroid gland is removed.

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