Dr Christine O'Neill, head of general surgery at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital and VMO General and Endocrine Surgeon specialising in treating thyroid cancer, is committed to enhancing patient autonomy and optimising psychosocial care outcomes for thyroid cancer patients.
In Australia, thyroid cancer ranks as the ninth most common cancer, with approximately 4000 new diagnoses every year. The issue of 'overdiagnosis’ – where the cancer found would be unlikely to have produced symptoms or led to serious outcomes if undiscovered - is also significant. Frequently, thyroid cancer is detected incidentally in patients who are having scans for unrelated reasons, ...