Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer 2017 Update from a Doctor’s Perspective

An Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer article on our web site offers a unique perspective from a doctor’s point of view for those affected by this kind of thyroid cancer and their loved ones and friends. The author, Maria E. Cabanillas, M.D., F.A.C.E., Associate Professor and Faculty Director of Clinical Research at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas has just updated this article.

The article provides an overview of Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer and then delves into some common questions and answers. You can review the entire article or find a question that speaks to you and go from there. We hope you find this helpful!

The Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Illinois has just launched the Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Quality of Life Survey. Please participate and contribute to this study. ThyCa is pleased to support the publicity for this survey.

The goal of this research study is to learn more about the experience of being a thyroid cancer survivor. This anonymous survey asks patients to answer basic questions about themselves, diagnosis and treatment, and aspects of quality of life.

It won’t take long to contribute to this study! It might take 10-15 minutes to complete. All responses will be combined across study participants. In order to take part, patients must have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and fall between 18 to 89 years of age.

Click here to learn more and complete the survey.

Washington, DC, (January 26, 2017) – The Patient Access Network (PAN) Foundation and ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc. (ThyCa) today announced they are launching a new alliance to offer a broad range of support for people living with thyroid cancer. Working together, the PAN Foundation and ThyCa will ensure that people living with thyroid cancer have access to both financial and patient support services, providing them with the holistic support needed to best manage their disease.

“Here at PAN, our goal is to help ease some of the financial stress for patients and families facing diseases like thyroid cancer,” said PAN President and CEO Dan Klein. “But we know that financial concerns are just one part of the challenge. In partnering with ThyCa, we can connect patients to additional services and resources, including handbooks and publications, support groups, clinical trial information, and more.”

Thyroid cancer, a cancerous tumor or growth located within the thyroid gland, is the most common endocrine cancer, according to ThyCa. Thyroid cancer is one of the few cancers that has increased in incidence rates over recent years. It occurs in all age groups from children through seniors

“We are thrilled to work with PAN, and to provide extended support to our patients and families,” said ThyCa Executive Director Gary Bloom. “This alliance will connect us to even more patients in need, expanding the number we are able to help, and hopefully alleviating some of the financial pressures that come with the diagnosis, treatment and management of thyroid cancer.”

Patients who qualify for the PAN Foundation’s thyroid cancer program are eligible to receive up to $12,000 per year in financial assistance. Eligible patients must be getting treatment for thyroid cancer; must reside and receive treatment in the United States; must have Medicare health insurance; and the medication for which they seek assistance must be covered by Medicare and must treat the disease directly. In addition, patients must fall at or below 500 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.

Patients, or advocates and caregivers applying on their behalf, can apply for assistance using the PAN Foundation’s online patient portal (www.panapply.org), or by calling 1-866-316-7263, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. To learn more about PAN’s more than 50 disease-specific programs, visit www.panfoundation.org.

For ThyCa’s free support groups, materials, events, Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month and year-round awareness campaigns, and thyroid cancer research funds and research grants, visit our website.

At ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc., we’re committed to funding research to help cure all types of thyroid cancer. Thanks to generous contributions, ThyCa has awarded new thyroid cancer research grants every year since 2003.

2016

Trevor Angell, M.D., Harvard Medical School, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, for the project titled “Assessment of Circulation Immune Suppressor Cells for Predicting Treatment Response in Follicular Cell Derived Thyroid Carcinoma.” In this study, prospectively enrolled patients will have peripheral blood myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC) measured before and after therapy for thyroid cancer. This will permit the examination of its role providing new personalized data to patients and their doctors to determine whether the cancer is present or spreading after treatment, in order to aid decisions about treatment or monitoring. Dr. Angell is an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is on the staff of Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is a graduate of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he also completed a residency followed by a fellowship in which he focused on mechanisms of immune suppression in thyroid cancer.
Viswanath Gunda, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, for the project titled “Combining Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors with BRAF Targeted Therapy in Thyroid Cancer.” The research seeks to understand the role of immune checkpoint receptors, PD-1/PD-L1 in thyroid cancer combinatorial and to combine therapies of these inhibitors with MAPKinase inhibitors (BRAF and MEK proteins) and multi-kinase VEGFR inhibitors to examine their synergistic effect on the treatment of aggressive thyroid cancer and their mechanism of action, with a focus on immune system interactions. Dr. Gunda is an Instructor in Cell Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital committed to translational research in thyroid cancer. A graduate of Sri Ramachandra University in India with high distinction, he completed his Ph.D. dissertation in Molecular Endocrinology, followed by a fellowship at the University of Utah. Next, he joined the staff of Massachusetts General Hospital as a Research Fellow. Dr. Gunda also coordinates the Endocrine Tumor Repository in the Surgery department at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Nikita Pozdeyev, M.D., Ph.D., University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado, for the project titled “Rational combination therapies with lenvatinib for advanced thyroid cancer.” This grant is the Ric Blake Memorial Thyroid Cancer Research Grant. This project aims to develop rational drug combinations with lenvatinib to further improve the efficacy of systemic treatment for advanced progressivethyroid cancer. This multidisciplinary project combines functional genomics, high-throughput pharmacology, and bioinformatics to identify drugs and drug targets that will have synergistic anti-proliferative effects in combination with lenvatinib on thyroid cancer cells. Dr. Pozdeyev is on the staff of the Department of Medicine at the University of Colorado. His research focuses on the study of pharmacogenomics relationships in thyroid cancer and the development of rational combination therapies for progressive metastatic thyroid cancer. A graduate of Saint Petersburg Pavlov State Medical University in Russia, he completed internship and residency programs at MedStar Harbor Hospital Center in Maryland, and a fellowship at the University of Colorado.

2015

Carrie Lubitz, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, is the recipient of the 2015 Ric Blake Memorial Thyroid Cancer Research Grant, named for ThyCa Co-Founder Ric Blake. Dr. Lubitz’s research is examining the clinical utility and cost-effectiveness of a novel blood-based assay for circulating BRAFV600E mutation in patients with papillary thyroid cancer, in order to enhance risk stratification, and identify patients who are likely to benefit from more aggressive interventions, and enable more targeted and efficient care. Dr. Lubitz completed her medical training at the University of Michigan Medical School, followed by further training at Weill-Cornell Medical College, and through the National Cancer Institute-sponsored Program in Cancer Outcomes Research Training, as well as earning her Master’s Degree in Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Sarah Oltmann, M.D., is the recipient of a 2015 grant for Medullary Thyroid Cancer Research. Her project will examine cancer progression and therapeutic response in a unique mouse model, with emphasis on increasing understanding of the natural history of metastatic disease and responses to treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Dr. Oltmann is director of endocrine surgery at University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. She earned her medical degree at Texas Tech University Health Science Center, with further training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and University of Wisconsin.
Ming Li, M.D., Ph.D., is awarded a grant for the project titled “Studying the Genetic Basis of Advanced Differentiated Thyroid Cancer by Forward Genetics Screening with Thyroid-specific Random Transposon Insertional Mutagenesis.” Dr. Ming Li completed his medical training at Beijing Medical University, Beijing, China, earned his Ph.D. at Baylor College of Medicine, and received further medical training at the University of Minnesota. He is now staff physician and assistant professor at the Phoenix VA Healthcare System, where his focus is thyroid cancer.
Juan Nicola, Ph.D., National University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Argentina, is receiving a grant for his research on “Uncovering Na+/I- Symporter (NIS) interacting proteins: Implications for radioiodide therapy efficiency and diagnosis of radioiodide-avid thyroid tumors.” Dr. Nicola earned his Ph.D. at National University of Córdoba, Cordoba, Argentina, and received the Latin American Thyroid Society young investigator award. He received postdoctoral training at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven Connecticut and then returned to the National University of Córdoba, where he is Research Assistant Professor.

2014

Elizabeth G. Grubbs, M.D., M.S., The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, for the project titled “Fusion Oncogenes as Drivers of Medullary Thyroid Cancer.” This project focuses on the role of RET fusion in MTC tumorigenesis, with the overall goal of showing that this gene rearrangement may predict biological behavior in MTC and that this pathway may be a viable target to (1) predict responses to targeted MTC therapy, (2) better stratify MTC patient outcomes and, for non-RET driven tumors, and (3) potentially offer a more rational approach to individualization of therapy.
Jason D. Prescott, M.D., Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland for the project “Development of a High Throughput in vivo Screening System for Small Molecule Activators of Thyroid Differentiation: Identification and Targeting of New Molecular Pathways Involved Thyroid Cancer Progression.” This project seeks to (1) identify new molecular pathways and mechanisms contributing to aggressive thyroid cancer and progression involving the BRAF protooncogene and (2) assess compounds in a large drug library for their anti-thyroid tumor activity and their molecular actions.
Brian R. Untch, M.D., Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, for the project titled “Mechanisms of response and resistance to farnesyltransferase inhibition in HRAS-driven thyroid tumors.” Dr. Untch notes that HRAS mutations are the second most common type of RAS mutation found in thyroid cancer and can be found in different types of cancer. Building on prior research with poorly differentiated and anaplastic thyroid cancer, the study will explore a class of drugs that are preferentially active against HRAS as compared to other mutations, to explore the mechanisms of adaptive and acquired resistance to a drug targeted against RAS in vitro and in vivo in a genetically accurate model of cancer. Dr. Untch’s group is also developing clinical trials with these drugs specifically for HRAS-mutant disease. This grant is this year’s Ric Blake Memorial Thyroid Cancer Research Grant, named for ThyCa Co-Founder Ric Blake, in honor of his dedication and commitment to ThyCa and to our goal of better futures for everyone with thyroid cancer, everywhere in the world.

2013

Nicole Chau, M.D., Harvard Medical School and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, for the project “Overcoming Resistance to RET inhibitors in Medullary Thyroid Cancer.” Dr. Chau is a medical oncologist and the goal of this project is to compare the efficacy of current and novel RET inhibitors against specific oncogenic RET mutations in Medullary Thyroid Cancer and to predict and study acquired resistance mechanisms.
Brittany Bohinc, M.D., Duke University Hospital, Durham, North Carolina, for the project “Overexpression of LGR4 and LGR5 in Human Thyroid Cancer Promotes Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling and is Associated with Tumor Aggressiveness.” This project will focus on understanding the role of specific pathways and markers in nodal metastases and aggressive tumor behavior, with this understanding aiding potential development of novel therapeutics in metastatic papillary thyroid cancer that is unresponsive to current therapies. This grant is the 2013 Ric Blake Memorial Thyroid Cancer Research Grant.
Jaroslaw Jendrzejewski, M.D., Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio for the project “Analysis of locus 14q13.3 in search of mutations predisposing to Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma (PTC).” This two-step project aims to uncover mutations by combining second-generation sequencing with bioinformatic analysis of 14q13.3 locus, which genome wide association studies have identified as one of the most important in genetic predisposition to PTC.

2012

Niklas Finnberg, Ph.D., Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, Hershey, Pennsylvania, for the project titled “Sorafenib and Quinacrine as Potential Combination for Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma.”
Aime Franco, Ph.D., University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, for the project titled “The Role of RAS versus RAF in Thyroid Cancer Development and Progression.”
Andreas Lundqvist, Ph.D., Cancer Center Karolinska, Stockholm, Sweden, for the project titled “Study the Role of Natural Killer Cells in Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma.” Dr. Lundqvist is the recipient of the Ric Blake Memorial Thyroid Cancer Research Grant.

2011

Naifa L. Busaidy, M.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Endocrine Neoplasia & Hormonal Disorders at the University of Texas – M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, for the project titled “A PI3K Based Phophoproteome Signature To Predict Prognosis and Response to Therapy in BRAF Mutant Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.”
Joanna Klubo-Gwiezdzinska, M.D., Ph.D., Endocrine Research Fellow, Washington Hospital Center/Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., for the project, “The Role of the Translocator Protein (TSPO) in the Thyroid Cancer Response to Treatment.”
Carmelo Nucera, M.D., Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, for the project “Targeting BRAFV600E with an Orally Available Selective Inhibitor in Novel In Vitro and In Vivo Preclinical Models of Human Papillary Thyroid Cancer.

2010

Rozita Bagheri-Yarmand, Ph.D., University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer, Houston, Texas, for the project titled “Center Activating Transcription Factor 4 (ATF4), a Novel Putative Tumor Suppressor Gene in Medullary Thyroid Cancer.”
Tania Pilli, M.D., University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, for the project titled “The Role of MADD, an IG20 Gene Splice Variant, and Its Potential Use as Therapeutic Target in the Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer.”

2009

Dingxie Liu, M.D., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, for the project titled “Dually Targeting the MAP Kinase and PI3K Pathways in Thyroid Cancer – Testing of a Novel Therapeutic Approach.”
Martin Walter, M.D., University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland, for the project titled “Somatostatin-coupled Nanoparticles for Imaging and Therapy of Medullary Thyroid Cancer.”

2008

Mike S. Fenton, Ph.D., University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)/Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles Health Care System, Los Angeles, California, for project on promoter gene regulation of the sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) gene expression in papillary thyroid cancer.
Libero Santarpia, M.D., Ph.D., University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, for project on identifying the target genes of six microRNAs (miRNA) in medullary thyroid cancer.

2007

Krystian Jazdzewski, M.D., Ph.D., Medical University of Gdansk, Poland, and Visiting Scientist, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, for research on the role of miR146a in papillary thyroid carcinoma.
Mabel Ryder, M.D., Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, for research on the role of Tumor-Associated Macrophages (TAMs) on thyroid cancer progression.

2006

Lionel Groussin, M.D., Ph.D., Cochin Institut, Paris, France, for research focusing on two specific enzymes in thyroid cells and their possible roles in suppressing thyroid cancer.
Xianmin Xia, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, for research on the effect of a small portion of a tumor suppressor protein on the proliferation of human medullary thyroid cancer cells, as well as poorly differentiated papillary thyroid cancer cells and anaplastic thyroid cancer cells.

2005

Matthias Schott, M.D., Heinrich-Heine University of Duesseldorf, Duesseldorf, Germany, for project titled “Induction of Cytotoxic Immunity in Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma by Dendridic Vaccination.”
Erich M. Sturgis, M.D., University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, for project titled “Radiation Response Genotype and Risk of Papillary Thyroid Cancer: A Case-Control Study.”

2004

Sareh Parangi, M.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, for project titled “Antiangiogenic Therapy of Thyroid Cancer.”

2003

Xiulong Xu, Ph.D., Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center. Chicago, Illinois, for project examining the relationship between a gene mutation and papillary thyroid cancer.

ThyCa’s grants are the first-ever thyroid cancer research grants to be funded entirely by thyroid cancer patients, caregivers, and friends. The grant recipients are selected by an independent expert panel of the American Thyroid Association. The ThyCa grants are open to researchers and institutions worldwide.

You’re invited to help support the Rally for Research. For details, visit the Rally for Research page.

ThyCa Urges Neck Checks, Provides Free Services, Materials in 9 Languages

While thyroid cancer has increased in incidence over recent decades, a decline in diagnoses to 56,870 is predicted for 2017, compared to 64,300 people diagnosed in 2016 in the United States, reports the nonprofit ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc. (“ThyCa”) based on information from the American Cancer Society and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Deaths from thyroid cancer are expected to total 2,010 in 2017, a 1.5% increase from 2016, more than the U.S. population increase.

Thyroid cancer affects people of all ages, from young children to seniors. About half of people diagnosed are under age 50. About three-quarters are female.

ThyCa urges everyone to learn about thyroid cancer and ask for a neck check at their routine medical appointments. Signs of a nodule can include voice changes, difficulty breathing or swallowing, or a bulge on the lower neck.

“The most commonly diagnosed types of thyroid cancer, papillary and follicular, are usually treatable when found early. However, thyroid cancer is usually difficult to treat if it has spread widely or is one of the rare types such as medullary or anaplastic,” says ThyCa Executive Gary Bloom, a 21-year thyroid cancer survivor. “A neck check by a medical professional during a routine appointment takes only a few seconds. Most thyroid nodules are benign, not cancer.”

ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc., is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of thyroid cancer survivors, family members, and health care professionals and is advised by 54 thyroid cancer experts. ThyCa provides free educational and awareness materials in 9 languages, videos with experts, support services, events, and a weekly newsletter to patients, professionals, and the public around the world. ThyCa sponsors Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month each September, and 2017 marks its 15th year of awarding thyroid cancer research grants, open to researchers worldwide. For information and free materials, e-mail to thyca@thyca.org, call toll-free 1-877-588-7904, write to PO Box 1102, Olney, MD 20830-1102, or visit our web site.

ThyCa is pleased to collaborate with the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (AAES) in a new research grant award.

This grant is named the ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivor’s Association Award for Thyroid Cancer Research.

Proposals are due to AAES by February 15, 2017. AAES members are eligible and AAES has sent the request for proposals to its members. AAES expects to announce the awardee at its annual meeting on April 2-4, 2017, in Orlando, Florida.

(Background Note: In November 2016, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued a draft statement that recommended against thyroid screening through palpation or ultrasound. USPSTF invited comments from the public through December 26, 2016.)

December 23, 2016

From: Gary Bloom, Executive Director. ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc. www.thyca.org

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on your draft statement.

ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc. strongly disagrees with the USPSTF recommendation against palpation to screen for thyroid nodules. ThyCa agrees with USPSTF on ultrasounds.

ThyCa urges neck palpation for all patients for the following reasons:

1. Thyroid cancer usually has no symptoms until it is very advanced at which time it is either difficult or impossible to treat successfully. Also, very few people have a history of high radiation exposure or family members with thyroid cancer. Therefore, early detection is crucial for saving the lives of patients who have medullary, anaplastic, and aggressive variants of papillary and follicular thyroid cancer.

2. Palpation/neck check is quick to do, using only the fingers as part of a regular appointment. It does not require special equipment. There is no additional cost to performing palpation. Nodules larger than 1 – 1.5 centimeters can be further analyzed to determine if cancer is present, and what type it is.

3. USPSTF’s recommendation against palpation means that very few patients will be diagnosed at an early stage with any type of thyroid cancer when cancer is more treatable, should active treatment be necessary.

4. USPSTF’s draft and background report barely mention medullary, anaplastic, and aggressive variants of papillary and follicular thyroid cancer, instead focusing mainly on highly treatable papillary thyroid cancer.

5. The few treatments available for either high-risk or advanced metastatic thyroid cancers measure progression-free disease time rather than cure. This is different from other cancers, where multiple treatment choices are available. This lack of effective treatments makes early detection more critical in thyroid cancer, as the only way to save the lives of most of those who currently die of this disease.

6. Finding a nodule does not mean that treatment will always follow. The next step is to determine whether cancer is present, and, if so, what type. Following diagnosis, a decision can be made whether or not active treatment is needed. However, the USPSTF draft and background document focused far more on treatment than on the diagnostic step.

7. The Academy of General Dentistry currently recommends neck exams. These also find conditions other than thyroid nodules

8. The USPSTF statement about mortality is incorrect, for several reasons.

a. It uses a rounded off death rate (0.5).
b. It adds the adjective “about.”
c. It does not discuss why the thyroid cancer mortality rate is not declining, while many other cancers have declining mortality rates.
d. Most importantly, it omitted sources that explain that the death rate from thyroid cancer has actually increased in recent years in the United States. Deaths have increased faster than the population increase. The National Cancer Institute noted that mortality from thyroid cancer rose 0.8 % per year from 2002 to 2011.

Similarly, in 2015 Dana Farber Cancer Institute reported that “the mortality rate appears flat mainly because it was charted over a relatively long time – 35 years. Had it covered just the last 10 years, critics say, it would show that the death rate from thyroid disease is increasing faster than any other cancer except liver cancer.”

9. The USPSTF draft and background document acknowledge the limitations of the available research, and acknowledge that there is “inadequate evidence to assess the harms of screening.”

It is surprising that USPSTF would oppose palpation without proposing an alternative effective way to save lives.

We urge USPSTF to recommend palpation.

The thyroid exam is one of the Stanford Medicine 25. These are 25 physical examinations that all students at Stanford Medical School in California are trained to do.

The video is less than 3 minutes long. The web page also explains the many different conditions besides nodules for which a thyroid exam is useful.

The draft statement from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends against thyroid cancer screening in patients who have no symptoms of the disease. USPSTF issued the statement on November 22, 2016 and is accepting public comments on the draft recommendation through December 26, 2016.

The statement, background information, and where to send comments are on this page. ThyCa’s web site will add these links and more information on our Home page.

ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc., disagrees with the recommendation against neck checks using palpation: examining the neck with the fingers during routine health and dental checkups. A neck check is quick to do. It does not require a special appointment or equipment. Nodules larger than 1 – 1.5 centimeters then can be further analyzed to determine whether or not cancer is present, and whether it’s a high-risk type such as medullary or anaplastic, or a high-risk variant of papillary or follicular thyroid cancer.

Following that, a decision can be made whether or not to proceed to treatment. Thus, detection and diagnosis are not the same as treatment.

ThyCa agrees with the USPSTF recommendation against routine neck ultrasounds. At least one country, Korea, has used neck ultrasound extensively to screen for thyroid nodules. This has resulted in extremely high increases in thyroid cancer diagnoses, especially very small cancers.

Some other points:

Thyroid cancer usually has no symptoms until it is very advanced. Thus, adopting the USPSTF recommendation against palpation would mean that most thyroid cancer would not be detected until it was past Stage 1, when treatment, if necessary, has the highest success rate. For patients with high-risk thyroid cancer, early detection is crucial.
In the last 10 or more years in the United States, deaths from thyroid cancer have increased faster than the population increase, in percentage terms. In contrast, the USPSTF and some other sources used a rounded-off death rate to assert that the death rate has remained stable over several decades. However, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and an article by Dana Farber Cancer Institute note that the death rate has actually increased in recent years.

NCI states that “Mortality from thyroid cancer has risen 0.8 % per year from 2002 to 2011.”

Similarly, a 2015 article on the Dana Farber Cancer Institute web site noted this issue. It says, “the mortality rate appears flat mainly because it was charted over a relatively long time – 35 years. Had it covered just the last 10 years, critics say, it would show that the death rate from thyroid disease is increasing faster than any other cancer except liver cancer.”

ThyCa plans to send a detailed response to the USPSTF. Individual thyroid cancer patients, caregivers, and medical professionals are encouraged to share their voices as well.

Read this page and use its links for the draft recommendation, background information, and how to comment.

Our dream is for cures for all thyroid cancer and a future free of thyroid cancer. We fund research grants to support progress toward this dream.

In 2017 we will award 7 grants with the American Thyroid Association — three new grants and four continuation grants. ThyCa has proudly awarded 60 grants worth more than $1.6 million in grant funding since 2003, thanks to the generous contributions from our donors. Our grants support research on complex aspects of all types of thyroid cancer: papillary, follicular, medullary, and anaplastic thyroid cancer.

Researchers worldwide are eligible for ThyCa grants. An independent expert panel of the ATA will review the proposals and select the winning research projects.

Proposals for ThyCa’s 2016 Research Grants must be submitted to the American Thyroid Association (ATA) by Tuesday, January 31, 2017. Get background information here. This page is the grant submission page.

Read about ThyCa’s annual Rally for Research and Research Grants.