Hurthle Cell Cancer

They diagnose this condition by doing a physical examination and asking about your symptoms, your medical history and your family medical history. Healthcare providers may do tests, including:

• Blood tests: Healthy thyroids release a protein called thyroglobulin. Healthcare providers may check your thyroglobulin levels. A high thyroglobulin level is a sign of Hürthle cell carcinoma.
• Thyroid uptake scan: This test checks for cancer cells in your thyroid. Healthcare providers do this test by injecting a small amount of radiative iodine into your bloodstream. This iodine builds up in any cancer tissues in your thyroid. Then, providers use positron emission tomography (PET) scan to look for cancer cells.
• Laryngoscopy: Providers may do this test to check your vocal cords.
• Fine needle aspiration (FNA): Healthcare providers use a small thin needle to take a sample of your thyroid tissue. They’ll examine the tissue under a microscope for signs of cancer. This technique is sometimes referred to as needle biopsy.
• Lobectomy: Sometimes, FNA or needle biopsy results don’t provide enough information for healthcare providers to make a firm diagnosis. If that happens, they may do surgery to remove the part of the thyroid with cancer.
• Computed tomography (CT) scan: If tests show you have Hürthle cell carcinoma, healthcare providers may do CT scans and other imaging tests to see if the cancer has spread.

Are there stages of Hürthle cell carcinoma?

Healthcare providers use cancer staging systems to plan treatment. They stage Hürthle cell carcinoma with the TNM staging system. (T stands for tumor. N stands for lymph node involvement. M stands for metastasis, whether cancer has spread.) Hürthle cell carcinoma stages range from Stage I to Stage IV.

Healthcare providers also factor in people’s ages when staging Hürthle cell carcinoma. People who are ages 55 and younger when they’re diagnosed have Stage I Hürthle cell carcinoma, regardless of tumor size or tumor effect on lymph nodes. If tumors have spread to more distant lymph nodes or organs, people ages 55 and younger have Stage II cancer.

Tumor size

• TI: A tumor is 2 centimeters or smaller. A centimeter (cm) is about the width of a fingernail or about ¾ inch.
• TII: A tumor is 2 cm to 4 cm.
• TIII: A tumor is larger than 4 cm and hasn’t spread from your thyroid gland but has spread to your infrahyoid (strap) muscles in the front of your neck.
• TIIIa: A tumor is larger than 4 cm but hasn’t spread from your thyroid.
• TIIIb: A tumor has spread to your strap muscles.
• TIVa: A tumor has spread beyond your thyroid gland into nearby soft tissues, your larynx, trachea, esophagus or nerves attached to your larynx.
• TIVb: A tumor has spread toward your spine or into your carotid artery or vein or mediastinal vessels (blood vessels in your chest).

Tumor effect on lymph nodes

• N0: A tumor hasn’t spread to nearby lymph nodes.
• NI: A tumor has spread to nearby lymph nodes.
• NIa: A tumor has spread to lymph nodes in your central neck.
• NIb: A tumor has spread to lymph nodes on the side of your neck.

Metastasis

• M0: There’s no sign that a tumor has spread to more distant lymph nodes or organs.
• MI: A tumor has spread to more distant lymph nodes or organs.