Thyroid Cancer

Thyroid disease affects 27 million Americans, more than the number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes and cancer combined, according to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be approximately 33,550 new cases of thyroid cancer diagnosed in the United States in 2007, and of these new cases, over 70% will be women.

The prognosis for most thyroid cancer patients is very good, but the rate of recurrence can be up to 30% (recurrence means that the cancer has come back after treatment). Recurrent thyroid cancer usually returns in the neck, but it may reappear in another part of the body, and it can return decades later, according to the Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association.

The ability to detect and treat thyroid cancer recurrence early is critically important, and that's where PET Scanning can help.