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Thyroid cancer appears to be on the rise in many areas of the world, although recent research suggests this may be more due to over-diagnosis than an actual increase in incidence.

In the US, the rate of thyroid cancer has doubled since 1994.1 In South Korea, it has become the most commonly diagnosed type of cancer, having increased 15-fold in the past 20 years.

However, some cancer experts note that the situation in South Korea is likely due to increased screening and misdiagnosis of harmless tumors. As noted in the featured article:2

“South Koreans embraced screening about 15 years ago when the government started a national program for a variety of cancers – breast, cervix, colon, stomach and liver.

Doctors and hospitals often included ultrasound scans for thyroid cancer for an additional fee of $30 to $50… Although more and more small thyroid cancers are being found, however, the death rate has remained rock steady, and low.

If early detection were saving lives, death rates should have come down. That pattern – more cancers detected and treated but no change in the death rate – tells researchers that many of the cancers they are finding and treating were not dangerous.”

The Risks of Over-Diagnosis

Finding tiny benign tumors that really do not need treatment is known as over-diagnosis-a phenomenon that is also common in other kinds of cancer screening, particularly breast cancer.

It’s emotionally difficult to take a “wait and see” approach once a tumor has been noted on a test or scan, but treating it can do far more harm than good if it’s benign. Far more people die with thyroid cancers than from them.

Left alone, a benign, slow-growing tumor might never cause a problem-indeed as many as one-third of people die with small thyroid tumors that remained undetected throughout their lives,3 and the cancer didn’t actually cause their death.

Removing and treating harmless tumors, however, can lead to a slew of cascading health problems. For example, surgical removal of your thyroid means you need to take thyroid hormones for the remainder of your life.

For many, this will lead to less than optimal hormone function. Chronic hormone deficiency, depression, and other symptoms of low thyroid function can become lifelong companions as a result… Surgical removal of the thyroid can also result in accidental damage to your vocal cords and/or parathyroid glands.