The Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition (SEEN) celebrates the fourth meeting of the area of Thyroid Knowledge with the aim of maintaining among its professionals the update in this pathology, very prevalent in our society and in progressive increase. In fact, in a cross-sectional population study conducted in Spain during 2009 and 2010, it was observed that in Spain the prevalence of hypothyroidism was 9.1 percent and hyperthyroidism 0.8 percent.
In the words of Elena Navarro González, specialist in Endocrinology and Nutrition at the Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Seville and coordinator of the Thyroid Knowledge Area of the SEEN, “in this annual meeting we update the most outstanding aspects that have been published as throughout the year, reviewing different topics of interest and news for society specialists, but other non-endocrinologists, such as surgeons, biologists, nuclear medicine and primary care physicians, also participate, since multidisciplinary work in this pathology is fundamental. team”.
It should be remembered that other thyroid problems, such as goiter and thyroid nodules, are not very quantified in our country, but if they are a frequent reason for consultation and in international studies, it affects 4-8%. of the population, and that 30 percent of the population has nodules in the thyroid, which are incidentally when performing explorations for other diseases. They are also more frequent in women and from the 3rd decade of life.
Thyroid cancer
The other issue that especially focused this meeting was thyroid cancer. Although it is rare, worldwide it accounts for 3 percent of all cancers in women and 1 percent in men, but there has been a progressive increase (3.8 times) in recent years, with the peak of appearance of the middle ages of life, in women around 40 years of age
On this issue, Carles Zafón, endocrinologist coordinator of the Thyroid Cancer Unit of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona and member of the Thyroid Knowledge Area of SEEN, explained that currently “we try to fully personalize the therapy, the Basic research must provide not only scientific knowledge, but also new tools for clinical use to improve diagnosis and treatment. “
Also, the specialist explained the alteration in the thyroid gland that produces the treatment with the inhibitory drugs of the check point immune (ICPI). According to Zafón, these have revolutionized the treatment of many cancers achieving great results. However, they also have side effects and, among them, those that cause alterations of the thyroid gland are relatively frequent.