3 ms·

Is it wise to minimize thyroid cancer or ablation just because you know someone who fared well afterwards?

• A_D_E_P_T 2y ago
  People hear the word "cancer" and think "death sentence." (Or, at the very least, an extremely difficult ordeal.) It's a scary word. Yet thyroid cancer is generally a mild disease -- especially mild as cancer goes -- and almost invariably nonfatal if caught early enough. If GLP-1 inhibitors get people screened for thyroid cancers more frequently, or lead to improved treatments for thyroid cancer, they will almost certainly lead to a reduction in thyroid cancer deaths -- even if, as some surmise, they are responsible for an increase in thyroid cancer cases. Even without this effect, if you balance [QALY lost] versus [QALY gained] GLP-1 agonists should come out so far ahead that it's almost laughable. In any case, I believe it is wise to talk about these things openly and without fear.
  • ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7 2y ago
    > inhibitor > agonist nit: these are not the same Also, not all thyroid cancers are created equally (like papillary vs medullary), not every one taking GLP-1 RAs are morbidly obese, etc.
    • A_D_E_P_T 2y ago
      Excuse the mix-up. > Also, not all thyroid cancers are created equally (like papillary vs medullary) Granted, but how is this relevant? I've heard that those drugs may -- this is still, as yet, uncertain -- increase the likelihood of follicular thyroid cancer, which is a very weak type. I have not heard that they increase one's likelihood of coming down with the anaplastic variant. (The only truly deadly one, but quite rare.) If caught early enough, papillary, follicular, and medullary are all easily treatable and indeed curable. > not every one taking GLP-1 RAs are morbidly obese Again, sure, but how is it relevant?