Multinodular Goiter - Question and Answer Forum - Elaine Moore Graves' Disease and Autoimmune Disease Education

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Tuesday, February 07, 2012

..:: Q & A ::..

THE Q & A

Welcome to The Q&A with Elaine Moore. Registered members are invited to ask any question of Elaine Moore on autoimmune diseases, Graves' disease, other thyroid diseases and subconditions, laboratory work, traditional and complementary medicine, triggers and environmental influences, thyroid and immune disorders in pets and animals, and other relevant areas of inquiry.

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Questions are answered solely by Elaine Moore, a medical writer and clinical laboratory scientist, MT, CLS, with more than 30 years of experience in immunology. Moore has also authored and edited over a dozen books in the area of health sciences and is an editor for McFarland Publisher's Health Topics Series.

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The Q & A with Elaine Moore

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8/26/2010 2:23 PM

Michelle

Joined: 8/26/2010

Posts: 2

Multinodular Goiter

I was just told I have a multinodular goiter. My doctors are inexperienced and there aren't many to choose from in my area. What tests should I ask for? What are the treatments for this? I just recently started the antithyroid drug PTU. Would this help? If its cancer and has to be removed do I have to take RAI to make sure nothing gets left behind. I'm trying to avoid RAI at all costs. I think I read with thyroid cancer the life expectancy is 5 years. Is that true even if they remove the thyroid and it hasn't spread? Are there any other questions I should ask my doctor and endocrinologist?

8/29/2010 4:43 PM

Elaine

Joined: 8/1/2008

Posts: 3166

Re: Multinodular Goiter

Modified By Elaine on 8/29/2010 3:44:58 PM

Hi Michelle,

Toxic multinodular goiter (TMG) s the second most common cause of hyperthyroidism. Here, the word toxic refers to the development of hyperthyroidism and not to toxicity. Multiple nodules are rarely malignant. If one nodule stood out and was much larger than the others your doctor would do a biopsy first, but this is rarely needed in cases of TMG.

PTU and methimazole are both used to reduce the size of thyroid nodules and the associated hyperthyroidism. A low iodine diet is also used in TMG and often that's all that's needed. There's no reason for aggressive therapy such as RAI. Your doctor should be running FT4 and FT3 levels and as soon as FT4 is within the normal range, the PTU dose should be reduced. You'll only need a low dose of meds to help lower the production of new hormone.

In the rare instance of thyroid cancer, and again, most nodules are benign, RAI isn't necessary.

Best, Elaine

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