Tag Archives: thyroid cancer

Minorities and poor have more advanced thyroid cancers when diagnosed, UCLA study shows

Black patients fare worst; Asians, Hispanics survive longest with disease

UCLA researchers have found that minority patients and those of lower socioeconomic status are far more likely to have advanced thyroid cancer when they are diagnosed with the disease than white patients and those in higher economic brackets.  

In one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, the UCLA team looked at nearly 26,000 patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancer and analyzed the impact of race and socioeconomic factors on the stage of presentation, as well as patient survival rates.   (more…)

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Removal of Lymph Nodes During Surgery For Thyroid Cancer May Be Beneficial

*Procedure may reduce recurrence rates, lower tumor marker levels*

Papillary thyroid cancer accounts for the majority of all thyroid malignancies, which primarily impact women. A new study indicates that routinely removing lymph nodes in the neck in these cancer patients may help prevent the disease from coming back.

When thyroid cancer metastasizes, lymph nodes in the neck may be affected, but these lymph-node tumors can be tiny and may not be detected by ultrasounds done before surgery to remove the diseased thyroid — or even during the procedure itself. (more…)

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Chernobyl Effects Could Last for Centuries

Nearly 25 years after the worst nuclear accident in history, new scientific findings suggest that the effects of the explosion at Chernobyl have been underestimated. Experts last month published a series of studies indicating that, contrary to previous findings, populations of animals decreased in the exclusion zone surrounding the site of the former nuclear power plant, and that the effects of radioactive contamination after the outbreak had been “overwhelming.”

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Technological Advances and the Dangers of Nuclear Energy

The successive and increasingly frequent occurrences of environmental disasters caused by human activities deserves our utmost attention. Leading us to necessarily suspect that we should have credible and foolproof trials before accepting assertions regarding existing technologies. 

The most striking example is the disaster caused by the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil exploration platform by British Petroleum (BP) which happened last April 20, and which day after day has reached catastrophic proportions.

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