People diagnosed with a particular type of thyroid cancer and aggressively treated for it actually didn’t have cancer after all.
That’s the conclusion of 24 endocrinology pathologists from seven countries empaneled by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to reconsider the diagnosis and treatment of Encapsulated Follicular Variant of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.
The panel reviewed numerous tumor-cell samples and did an exhaustive review of the medical literature, among other efforts, before concluding that the condition was precancerous but not cancer itself.
The panel determined that the precancerous nodule that causes a lump in the neck rarely recurs or leads to complications once removed, with no further treatment necessary.