Hello I’m really confused and lost
in January I was brought in for a scan and FNAC. I then had another in February and they decided to operate
all I know is this:
37x32x23mm homogeneously slightly hypoechoic soft tissue nodule with internal vascularity. FNAC comprises of blood scattered follicular cells colloid colloid laden macrophages
tumor unusual thy3f
I had my thyroid removed
I feel lost and unable to understand why it was completely removed and what any of this means
Hi SKR,
Thank you for getting in touch with us and welcome to our online community. My name is Adrienne and I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists at Macmillan. I see that you have joined our thyroid cancer forum and hope you are finding it helpful and supportive.
I’m so sorry to hear how lost and confused you are over these results and the removal of your thyroid.
The description you have given above sounds like the report from your ultrasound scan (USS) and results from fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). This would be aimed at your medical team, hence all of the jargon but is definitely something that should have been discussed with you prior to having surgery, so you can give informed consent for the procedure. It would definitely be worth getting in touch with your consultant, via their secretary to discuss things further and ask the question as to why a total thyroidectomy was needed and what the pathology results were from that surgery.
I can try to explain some of the things you mentioned above; to try and help you understand why surgery was needed but your consultant is the best person to ask about this for sure.
You mention the size/dimensions of the nodule and that it was ‘homogeneously slightly hypoechoic’. Hypoechoic relates to the density of the tissue seen on scan, so the nodule is more solid than the usual tissue. Homogeneous means the texture of the nodule was even (as opposed to a heterogeneous texture which would be uneven) and this usually indicates a benign nodule. Think of a smooth surface rather than rough or ragged surface. However, hypoechoic thyroid nodules, whether homogeneous (even surface) or heterogeneous (uneven surface) have a higher risk of being cancer than those that are not hypoechoic. The ‘internal vascularity’ describes the vessels seen within the nodule.
The FNAC results led to the nodule being classified as a Thy3f which means that although they cannot determine whether or not there is definitely cancer present, it is possible so surgery is recommended to either confirm this or rule it out.
So to summarise SKR, the results of your USS and FNAC found the nodule was suspicious of being malignant and surgery was needed to be able to find out for sure whether or not this was the case.
I really would advise you to get in touch with your doctor to discuss this further, so they can explain things more and not assume you know what is going on.
I hope this was at least a little helpful for you. Please know that you can always give us a call on the support line to talk things through. It can help and although we don’t have access to your NHS records, we can talk things through in general terms and it gives you the chance to ask any questions that may arise.
Take care and best wishes,
Adrienne
Cancer Information Nurse Specialist
You can speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email.
Ref: AMc/AC
Hi SKR
Thank you for getting back in touch with us. My name is Lynsay, and I am also one of the information nurses with Macmillan Cancer Support.
It is completely natural for you to feel scared, waiting for results can be really difficult. I guess this may feel even more challenging as you didn’t get much explanation from the hospital about your initial results prior to your thyroid surgery. I’m really glad Adrienne’s reply was helpful.
You are more than welcome to call us on the support line if it would help to chat things through with us. Sometimes just having the chance to say things out loud and talk about your worries can help relieve some of the pressure and worry you may be feeling.
To try and answer your question, the scattered follicular cells etc refer to what was found in the FNAC (fine needle aspiration cytology). There are certain components that are often found within a fine needle aspiration, these include follicular cells, oncolytic cells, colloid, inflammatory cells and macrophages. It is how these cells look under the microscope that helps determine if the lesion is cancerous or non-cancerous.
In your case the FNAC was not able to determine this. The FNA result combined with what was seen on ultrasound lead to the classification of thy3F, is this is known as an indeterminate result. This means they may be seeing some unusual features and not others making it hard to determine if the lesion is cancerous or not. It is not uncommon to get an indeterminate result but unfortunately if doesn’t give you the answer to what is there, making surgery necessary.
You will get an appointment to go in and discuss the results of surgery, at this point they will be able to tell you if thyroid cancer was present or not. Sometimes the main and only treatment for thyroid cancer is surgery, sometimes this may be followed up with further treatment. However, it could also be the case that thyroid cancer was not present. If it would help to speak with us when you receive your results please don’t hesitate to get back in touch with us.
All the best
Lynsay
Cancer Information Nurse Specialist
You can speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email
