Rafal Czepczynski MD, PhD

Prof. Rafał Czepczyński, from the Department and Clinic of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Internal Diseases, the Medical University of Karol Marcinowski in Poznań, expert of the Polish Society of Nuclear Medicine.

Thyroid cancer is being diagnosed more and more often. As noted by prof. Rafał Czepczyński, the likely reason for the increased detection rate is not so much the drastically increasing incidence, but better access to diagnostics. “Today, up to four to five times more cases of thyroid cancer are detected than in the 1980s. With the progress of diagnostic technologies and the increased access to ultrasound examinations, smaller and smaller neoplastic changes within the thyroid gland are diagnosed. It is not without significance that ultrasound devices are increasingly available in the offices of family doctors who train in the field of ultrasound diagnostics. As a result, possible changes in the thyroid gland can be detected early, and the patient can be quickly referred for consultation to an endocrinologist and subjected to a fine-needle biopsy ”- explains Czepczyński.

Fine needle biopsy, like ultrasound, is commonly used in the diagnosis of thyroid cancer. The examination is painless and requires no prior preparation on the part of the patient. The procedure takes only a few minutes and can be performed during a visit to a specialist clinic. The test results are available after a few days.