VIDEO: Following breast cancer diagnosis, risk of thyroid cancer rises

SAN DIEGO – Women who survive breast cancer face an increased risk of developing thyroid cancer, especially within 5 years of their breast cancer diagnosis, according to a large analysis of the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results 9 database, covering 1973-2011.

In an interview at the meeting of the Endocrine Society, the study’s lead author, Dr. Jennifer H. Kuo, thyroid biopsy program director in the division of GI/endocrine surgery at Columbia University, New York, said that compared with patients with breast cancer alone, women who had breast cancer followed by thyroid cancer were younger on average when diagnosed with their breast cancer. They also were more likely to have had invasive ductal carcinoma, a smaller focus of cancer, and to have received radiation therapy as part of their breast cancer treatment.

Dr. Kuo concluded that recognition of the association should prompt vigilant screening for thyroid cancer among breast cancer survivors. She reported having no relevant financial conflicts to disclose.

dbrunk@frontlinemedcom.com

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