DOCTOR INTERVIEWS

Endocrine

Endocrine

94: Take a Step Back⎢Thyroid Surgery with a Clear Mind, with Dr. Bryan McIver from Moffitt Cancer Center

Bryan McIver, MD, PhD
Dr. McIver contributes to Moffitt Cancer Center almost 20 years of clinical experience in the care of patients with endocrine diseases, specializing in the evaluation of patients with thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer. He has a particular interest in the management of patients with advanced and aggressive forms of cancer and the role of genetic and molecular techniques to improve the accuracy of diagnosis.
Most nodules are benign
When to do a biopsy
How to interpret the results of biopsy
Advances in thyroid cancer
Ultrasound technology advancements
Molecular markers
Cytopathology categorizations
Molecular marker technologies
Gene expression classifier

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Endocrine

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

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Endocrine

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.

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Endocrine

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?

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Endocrine

84: Flame Retardants Connected to Thyroid Cancer, with Dr. Julie Ann Sosa from Duke University

This is an in depth discussion about the connection between flame retardants and plastics, and thyroid cancer.  These chemicals, also known as endocrine disruptors, have a clear connection to thyroid cancer occurrence.
The research is presented by Julie Ann Sosa, MD MA FACS is Chief of Endocrine Surgery at Duke University and leader of the endocrine neoplasia diseases group in the Duke Cancer Institute and the Duke Clinical Research Institute. She is Professor of Surgery and Medicine. Her clinical interest is in endocrine surgery, with a focus in thyroid cancer. 

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