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12/28/11--04:58: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez Has Thyroid Cancer (chan 1160306)

The government of Argentina announced on Tuesday, December 27, 2011 that the country's president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has papillary thyroid cancer. The announcement said that the cancer had not ...

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01/02/12--12:53: 200+ Thyroid Patients Share Thyroid Diet Success Stories (chan 1160306)

If you're a thyroid patient who has lost weight, what worked? Was it a low-fat, low-carb, low-glycemic, or low-calorie diet? Or all of the above? Did you need to exercise, ...

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01/02/12--12:56: Seven Thyroid Diet Secrets (chan 1160306)

When you're hyperthyroid, you should automatically lose weight, right? If you are hypothyroid and you begin treatment, the weight should just melt off, yes? Thyroid patients can lose weight without ...

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01/04/12--01:41: Artist Allyson Jones Averell Celebrates Thyroid Awareness Month With New Painting (chan 1160306)


New Jersey-based artist Allyson Jones Averell is sharing her original painting, in honor of Thyroid Awareness Month, which began on January 1st.

Two years ago, Ally shared her amazing talents in a an incredible butterfly-themed body painting to help highlight thyroid awareness.

This year, Ally's body painting features the word "believe." According to Ally: "I chose the word believe for a few reasons. Believe in advocacy. Believe in a cure. Believe in helping others. Believe in asking questions. Believe in living healthy. Believe in living happy. Believe in turning something bad into something beautiful. And most importantly, believe you WILL get better."

It's always incredible to see Ally's beautiful visual message -- even more incredible is she herself is the model for her talented and inspiring artwork.

I hope that, like Ally, we all realize that it's important to believe. And believe that we can all, like Ally, do something to help raise visibility and make a difference this Thyroid Awareness Month!

_{Art by Allyson Jones Averell, https://www.facebook.com/AllysonAverell, Photo by Beautiful Lee Photography, https://www.facebook.com/BeautifulLeePhotography}


01/09/12--12:31: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez Has Thyroid Removed, But No Cancer Is Found (chan 1160306)

Last week, I reported that Argentine President Cristina Fernandez was going to have a thyroid surgery as treatment for papillary thyroid cancer.

Fernandez did have her surgery last week, but after a full pathology assessment, no thyroid cancer was found.

What This Means for President Fernandez?

President Fernandez released a statement to say that she appreciated the good wishes, and would be getting back to work soon, given that she no longer needs to have radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment as a followup to her surgery. Fernandez, however, now has no thyroid gland, meaning that she is permanently hypothyroid. As such, she will have to take thyroid hormone replacement medication throughout her life, to replace the body's missing thyroid hormone.

Could the Surgery Have Been Avoided?

Dr. Robert Haddad, who is the chief of head and neck oncology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, told Fox News Latino that Fernandez's permanent hypothyroidism could have been avoided if only the half that had the potentially cancerous nodule was removed. According to Haddad, thyroid cancers tend to be so "well-behaving" that it doesn't usually make sense to take out the whole gland.

Other experts have said, however, that the thyroidectomy in the face of suspected papillary thyroid cancer follows standard guidelines, and therefore was an appropriate procedure.

How Could Such a Major Mistake Have Been Made?

While the specific sequence of events in President Fernandez's case has not been released, typically, in a situation like this, there is a fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy, and if that result shows cancer, surgery is performed.

A small percentage, usually less than 4%, of these positive FNA biopsy results are in error, meaning that they are "false positives."

It's possible Fernandez was one of this small minority of patients who had a false positive FNA result. Given that no cancer was found, however, it's also possible that Fernandez's biopsy sample was labeled indeterminate or inconclusive. In most cases, when faced with an inconclusive biopsy result that can not rule out thyroid cancer, doctors still have proceeded with surgery to remove the gland.

I have to wonder, however, if President Fernandez might have been spared a surgery, and lifelong hypothyroidism, if she had access to the relatively new Veracyte Afirma Thyroid FNA Analysis process that was launched in the U.S. last year. This is a specialized test process, applied to FNA results, that prevents inconclusive and indeterminate results, and almost entirely eliminates needless surgeries like the one Fernandez underwent.

About Mary Shomon | Thyroid Forum | Twitter | Facebook

_{Photo: Mario Tama, Getty Images News}


01/09/12--13:04: Endocrinologists' Thyroid Awareness Month Campaign Focuses on Increasing Number of People Diagnosed with Thyroid Dysfunction (chan 1160306)

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists has, with the financial support of Synthroid manufacturer Abbott Labs, launched their 2012 effort to commemorate January's Thyroid Awareness Month with a new media campaign, and the rollout of a new paisley ribbon as the "icon for thyroid awareness."

Their objectives include reaching 500 million people, via media outreach and web presence at their AACE awareness website and increasing understanding of thyroid dysfunction, as well as increasing the number of people diagnosed with thyroid dysfunction.

Their campaign includes several web video PSAs, including one that features Edmund the giraffe. In it, Edmund says he's an expert on necks, and then presents a few key facts about thyroid disease, using animal imagery. You can view the AACE Edmund the Giraffe Thyroid Awareness Month 2012 video online at Youtube.

What do you think of the AACE's 2012 effort? Do you feel that Edmund the giraffe is an effective PSA? What about AACE's other web PSAS? Share your thoughts in the comments?

About Mary Shomon | Thyroid Forum | Twitter | Facebook

_{Photo: AACE / screen capture of Youtube video}


01/16/12--13:56: A Tribute to Thyroid Pioneer Dr. John Lowe (chan 1160306)

He led the charge for use of T3 as a thyroid treatment. He was a pioneer in understanding the connection between fibromyalgia and hypothyroidism. He fought against thyroid dogma, to ...

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01/23/12--11:58: New Thyroid Support Group Starting in Massachusetts (chan 1160306)

Coalition for Better Thyroid Care co-founder and Executive Director Geri Rybacki is celebrating Thyroid Awareness Month in a new way: she's forming a new, local support group for thyroid ...

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01/23/12--12:26: DearThyroid Sponsoring Thyroid Awareness Contest to Win Painting (chan 1160306)

Over at DearThyroid, by sharing your thoughts about thyroid disease, you may win an original painting by artist and advocate Allyson Jones Averell! Ally has donated an original butterfly painting ...

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01/23/12--13:33: More Is Known About Autoantibodies That Cause Autoimmune Diseases (chan 1160306)

A new study has found that more than 32 million people -- or nearly 14% of the US population -- have autoantibodies in their bloodstream. Autoantibodies are proteins produced in ...

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