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Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month: A Measured Look
Each September, Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month highlights a cancer that is usually treatable. Here is a calm, NCI-based overview, including the nuances of screening.
A plain-language summary based on public reporting and trusted sources, linked below.
Please note: this page is educational only — it is not medical advice, and it does not speculate about anyone’s health beyond reliable public reporting. For questions about your own health, talk with your healthcare team.
Why a September observance needs a careful tone
Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month falls in September. Most cancer awareness campaigns push in one direction: look harder, find it sooner. Thyroid cancer is the case where that instinct has been tested and found wanting, and saying so honestly is more useful than a slogan.
The gland itself
The thyroid sits at the base of the throat, next to the windpipe. It is shaped like a butterfly, with a right lobe and a left lobe joined by a thin bridge of tissue called the isthmus. A healthy thyroid is a little larger than a quarter and usually cannot be felt through the skin.
It uses iodine, a mineral found in some foods and in iodized salt, to make hormones. Those hormones control heart rate, body temperature and how quickly food becomes energy. They also help control the amount of calcium in the blood.
Nodules are common; cancer is not
A thyroid nodule is an abnormal growth of thyroid cells. Nodules may be solid or filled with fluid. Doctors find them often during routine exams, and NCI is clear about what usually follows: only a small number of thyroid nodules turn out to be cancer.
Most nodules cause no symptoms and need no treatment. If one grows large enough to make swallowing or breathing difficult, that changes.
When a nodule is found, the usual next steps are an ultrasound of the thyroid and a fine-needle aspiration biopsy, in which a thin needle draws out cells for examination. Blood tests may check hormone levels and look for antibodies that point to other thyroid conditions.
Four types, two very different stories
NCI groups thyroid cancer into differentiated types and medullary thyroid cancer.
The well-differentiated tumors, papillary and follicular thyroid cancer, can be treated and can usually be cured. Papillary is by far the most common.
Poorly differentiated and undifferentiated tumors, meaning anaplastic thyroid cancer, are much less common. They grow and spread quickly, and the chance of recovery is poorer. NCI recommends molecular testing for a mutation in the BRAF gene for anyone with anaplastic disease.
Medullary thyroid cancer is a neuroendocrine tumor that develops in the C cells of the thyroid, which make calcitonin, a hormone involved in keeping blood calcium steady. An inherited change in the RET gene can cause it. A genetic test exists: the patient is tested first, and if the change is present, family members can be tested too. Relatives who carry it, including young children, may have the thyroid removed to reduce the chance of the cancer developing.
When to get checked
NCI says thyroid cancer may cause no early symptoms and is sometimes found on a routine physical. Check with a doctor about any of these:
- A lump or nodule in the neck.
- Trouble breathing.
- Trouble swallowing.
- Pain when swallowing.
- Hoarseness.
Add some practical thresholds. A neck lump that has been there more than three weeks, or is growing, deserves an appointment. So does hoarseness lasting more than three weeks with no cold to explain it, since a thyroid tumor can press on the vocal cords. Trouble breathing that comes on quickly is an emergency, not an appointment.
What raises risk
NCI lists being aged 25 to 65; being female; exposure to radiation to the head or neck as an infant or child, or to radioactive fallout; a history of goiter, meaning an enlarged thyroid; a family history of thyroid disease or thyroid cancer; certain genetic conditions including familial medullary thyroid cancer and multiple endocrine neoplasia types 2A and 2B; and being Asian.
Radiation exposure deserves a note on timing. NCI says the cancer may appear as soon as five years after exposure, which means it is a long-term risk to mention to a clinician, not a short-term worry.
NCI states that it has no evidence-based information about preventing thyroid cancer.
Screening: the honest answer
There is no standard or routine screening test for thyroid cancer. Cancers that cause no symptoms are usually found by accident: during a routine neck exam, during surgery for something else, or on an ultrasound ordered for another reason.
NCI goes further than "no test is recommended." It states that studies have shown screening for thyroid cancer does not decrease the chance of dying from the disease. No randomized trial in the United States has tested whether a neck exam, ultrasound or other screening test lowers that risk. Neck exams and ultrasound are sometimes used to screen, and they do not reduce the risk of dying from thyroid cancer.
The named harm is overdiagnosis: finding a cancer that would never have caused symptoms or threatened a life. Once found, it tends to be biopsied and treated, and NCI points out that biopsy, surgery and radioactive iodine therapy all carry serious risks, physical and emotional. False-negative and false-positive results are also possible.
Our overview of cancer screening explains why "more testing" and "better outcomes" are not the same thing.
The numbers
The American Cancer Society projects 45,240 new thyroid cancers in the United States in 2026 and 2,320 deaths; these are the estimates SEER carries in its Stat Facts. New diagnoses have risen in recent decades. About 63 percent are found while confined to the thyroid, 31 percent after spread to nearby lymph nodes and 3 percent after spread further.
Five-year relative survival across all stages was 98.3 percent for people diagnosed from 2016 through 2022. Roughly 1 million Americans were living with a thyroid cancer diagnosis in 2023.
Read those two facts together: diagnoses rising while deaths stay very low is the pattern that overdiagnosis produces. The survival figure is a group statistic about people diagnosed years ago, and it does not describe anyone's individual outlook, especially for the rarer aggressive types it averages in.
What this does not mean
- It does not mean a neck lump should be ignored. Symptoms need evaluation; that is different from screening people without symptoms.
- It does not mean thyroid cancer is harmless. Anaplastic thyroid cancer is aggressive, and 2,320 deaths a year are real.
- It does not mean the high survival figure applies to every type. It averages a common curable cancer with rare lethal ones.
- It does not settle anyone's individual case. Our pages on thyroid cancer and thyroid cancer symptoms go further.
Sources
- https://www.cancer.gov/types/thyroid/patient/thyroid-treatment-pdq
- https://www.cancer.gov/types/thyroid/patient/thyroid-screening-pdq
- https://www.cancer.gov/types/thyroid
- https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/thyro.html
An AI-assisted editorial system helped prepare this page. No named medical reviewer has reviewed it unless one is listed.
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Put the story in context
Prevention, possible warning signs, screening, and diagnosis
This story relates to Thyroid cancer. The information below is general: it does not reveal anything else about a public person’s health, and not every point applies to every cancer. Personal advice depends on age, symptoms, family history, exposures, and medical history.
Prevention and risk reduction
Not every cancer can be prevented. Avoiding tobacco, protecting skin from ultraviolet radiation, limiting alcohol, staying active, and receiving recommended HPV or hepatitis B vaccination can lower the risk of certain cancers. A risk factor is not a prediction or a cause in one individual.
Symptoms and possible early signs
Possible signs vary and are often caused by conditions other than cancer. Changes worth discussing include a new lump, unexplained bleeding or weight loss, a persistent cough, lasting bowel or bladder changes, a changing skin spot, or symptoms that persist or worsen. Some early cancers cause no symptoms.
Screening and early detection
Screening looks for certain cancers before symptoms begin. Recommended tests exist only for some cancers and depend on age and risk. Screening can have benefits and harms; it is not the same as evaluating a new symptom, and there is no single routine scan or blood test that reliably screens for every cancer.
How cancer is diagnosed
Diagnosis may involve a history and exam, imaging, laboratory tests, and often a biopsy. Pathology can identify the cancer type and may test biomarkers that guide treatment. Symptoms, screening results, tumor markers, or online stories alone cannot confirm cancer.
Learn about this story’s cancer topic
A public story may encourage questions, but it should not be used to estimate your risk or choose testing. Contact a healthcare professional about a persistent or concerning change. Seek urgent care for severe or rapidly worsening symptoms.