Doctor Interviews
91: What Do You Do For a Living?⎥Why It Matters, with Dr. Ashok R. Shaha from MSKCC
Dr. Shaha specializes in head and neck surgery, with a particular interest in thyroid and parathyroid surgery. He uses an algorithm of selective thyroid tumor criteria (the size, location, stage and type of cancer, along with the patient’s age), to tailor therapy to each individual’s circumstances.
In this interview, topics include:
* The first question a surgeon should ask and why.
* When talking active surveillance or observation, changing the language to deferred intervention, ‘we are going to defer’.
* Understanding the biology of the cancer
* The biology of thyroid cancer is a friendly cancer.
90: Adding T3 to T4 Will Make You Feel Better? For Some the Answer is ‘Yes’ with Dr. Antonio Bianco from Rush University
A little T3 can make a world of difference for some thyroid patients.
Antonio Bianco, MD, PhD, is head of the division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Rush University Medical Center. Dr. Bianco also co-chaired an American Thyroid Association task force that updated the guidelines for treating hypothyroidism.
Dr. Bianco’s research has revealed the connection between thyroidectomy, hypothyroidism symptoms, and T4-only therapy. Although T4-only therapy works for the majority, others report serious symptoms
89: Thyroid Cancer Web Sites Confuse Patients with Dr. Rashika Bansal from St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center
In this episode Dr. Bansal shares the research she presented at AACE 2017 and ENDO 2017, regarding the poor readability scores for thyroid cancer web sites.
The challenge for these web sites and health institutions is to translate thyroid education from complex to simple and easy to understand. Currently, many patients are not following up with treatment, citing confusion after being exposed to the various thyroid cancer education resources.
88: Has anything changed in the past 50 years of treating thyroid disease? (including thyroid cancer) The answer is yes. → Dr. Leonard Wartofsky from MedStar
Thyroid replacement therapy has been around since 1891, when patients were served sheep thyroid tartar. Now, patients have the convenience of a taking a simple
87: A Must Listen Episode Before Getting Surgery – Do Not Do It Alone, with Douglas Van Nostrand from MedStar Washington Hospital
Dr. Douglas Van Nostrand, MD is the Director of Nuclear Medicine and the Program Director of the Nuclear Medicine Residency Program at Washington Hospital Center and Professor of Medicine, Georgetown University Hospital Center.
86: Thyroid Cancer Treatment and Surgery Explained⎥Dr. Gerard Doherty from Harvard Medical School
* Imaging has increased thyroid nodule discovery.
* Following patients with small thyroid cancer ? analogous to prostate cancer. Better followed than treated.
* Tiny thyroid cancers can be defined by those nodules less than 1/4 inch in size.
* Less RAI is being used as a part of thyroid cancer treatment. This means, less need to do total thyroidectomy or thyroid lobectomy.
* Dry mouth and dry eyes are risks to doing RAI. Also, there is risk to developing a second malignancy. Most of the secondary cancers are leukemia.
* Risks to operation include changes to voice and calcium levels. Thyroid surgery is a safe operation but not risk free.
* Best question for a patient to ask is, who is my treatment team?