The Lefcourt Family Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center takes a team approach.
Our disease-specific teams include doctors and other healthcare professionals from a variety of disciplines with experience treating your cancer. Together, these experts create an individualized plan of treatment designed to meet your needs, based on the biology and stage of your cancer and how quickly it is growing. Our doctors examine the unique genetic features of your thyroid cancer to match you with the treatments that are most likely to be effective.
Your personalized treatment plan may include:
Thyroid Cancer Surgery
Surgery is often a key component of thyroid cancer treatment. For some people with certain small thyroid tumors, surgery may be the only cancer treatment needed. Our experienced endocrine surgeons perform minimally invasive thyroid cancer surgery whenever possible, operating through small incisions. Thyroid cancer surgery options include:
- Total thyroidectomy: Removal of all of the thyroid gland. Afterward, you will need to take thyroid hormones to replace those that your thyroid gland would normally make.
- Thyroid lobectomy (hemithyroidectomy): Removal of only one of the two lobes of the thyroid gland. This may be an option for some people with early-stage, slow-growing cancer.
- Lymph node dissection (lymphadenectomy): Removal of nearby lymph nodes if thyroid cancer has spread to them.
Medical Treatments for Thyroid Cancer
Our Infusion Center, located on the Englewood Hospital campus, offers a comfortable and convenient experience for patients returning often for therapy. We also provide medical treatments at our Jersey City and Fair Lawn locations. If anti-cancer medications are part of your thyroid cancer treatment plan, you may receive:
- Radioactive iodine therapy: This specialized treatment targets thyroid cancer cells with radioactive iodine. Taken as a pill, it is most often used after surgery to eliminate any remaining cancerous tissue in people with follicular thyroid cancer or advanced papillary thyroid cancer. It only needs to be taken once or twice.
- Targeted therapies: Some people with advanced thyroid cancer receive targeted therapy. Targeted therapies take aim at the molecules fueling thyroid cancer growth. Your doctor will let you now if you need to take anti-cancer medications for thyroid cancer.
Radiation Therapy for Thyroid Cancer
Radiation therapy may be used alone or with chemotherapy to treat thyroid cancers that have spread or came back after radioactive iodine or other treatments. At Englewood Health’s Coe Radiation Oncology Center on our main campus, our radiation oncology team uses state-of-the-art equipment to precisely target cancerous tissue while sparing healthy surrounding tissues.
Geriatric Oncology for Thyroid Cancer
At Englewood Health, we offer specialized care for older adults diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Our team focuses on the unique needs of elderly patients, tailoring treatment plans to address both the cancer and any age-related health concerns. With a comprehensive approach that balances effective cancer treatment and maintaining quality of life, we provide personalized care that takes into account the patient's overall well-being and treatment tolerability.
Clinical Trials
Our oncologists participate in many clinical trials evaluating promising new treatment options for thyroid cancer. A clinical trial may give you access to a cutting-edge therapy that is not yet available as a standard treatment. Your care team will let you know if you may be eligible for any clinical trials. The decision to participate is entirely yours.
Survivorship Services
After completing multidisciplinary therapy, patients are guided through a comprehensive survivorship meeting. This meeting provides an opportunity to review the treatments received and establish a personalized plan for ongoing surveillance and follow-up care. Our team will assess your current health status, discuss strategies for monitoring your recovery, and help ensure you have the necessary support for long-term well-being following thyroid cancer treatment.