Turkish doctor recommends iodized salt to prevent papillary thyroid cancer

By Ilhami Erkilic

ERZURUM, Türkiye (AA) - A doctor from Ataturk University in northeastern Türkiye, highlighted a recent surge in thyroid papillary cancer cases.

Mufide Nuran Akcay recommended iodized salt for prevention, especially among children and youth, if the thyroid gland is normal.

"If there is no iodine in the water, soil of a region, if it is low, then it cannot secrete enough thyroid hormone and the thyroid gland grows to compensate for this," she said.

An enlargement of the gland due to iodine deficiency is prevalent, particularly in northeastern Anatolia, the Himalayas and the European Alps, added Akcay.

She emphasized radiation exposure as a leading cause of the disease, besides genetic factors, citing a notable increase in papillary cancer due to radiation.

- 70% of goiter surgeries performed in 2023 had cancer

"Thyroid disease is more common in women worldwide," she said, and 65% of women who are older than 60 in northeastern Anatolia have thyroid nodules.

"Seventy percent of the goiter surgeries we performed in the last year have cancer," said Akcay. "This is a very high rate."

She said radiotherapy, which was applied to a wide range of diseases in the past, used to return as cancer.

Akcay said radiotherapy is done less today and that there is a lot of exposure to nuclear ionizing radiation.

"We are very exposed to environmental radiation and for this reason, papillary cancer has increased a lot," she added.

Underlining the importance of age and gender difference for the disease, she said: "Nodules are seen at any age, but nodules in men, adolescence and childhood are more dangerous," said Akcay.

- Early treatment is vital

Akcay stressed the crucial role of early diagnosis and said timely treatment allows for a normal life, while untreated cancer can spread.

"Papillary cancer is a benign cancer, and with good treatment and surgery in the early stages, the person can lead a normal life. Without surgery, the cancer can spread to the bone, lung, brain, anywhere in the body," she stated.

Akcay said: "Our most important recommendation is that those with structurally and functionally normal thyroid glands, children and young people should definitely use iodized salt," underlining the role of iodine deficiency in the disease.

Salt was iodized in Turkey in the 1990s after authorities realized iodine deficiency is the root cause of the high incidence of goiter in the country, she added.

Akcay noted that iodine taken after a structural or functional disorder harms the person and warned those with nodules or functional problems in the thyroid gland not to use iodized salt.

*Writing by Muhammed Yasin Gungor from Istanbul