People who notice unusual nodules in the neck should visit a doctor in a short time in order to find out if the nodules represents a malign or a bening tumor. Moreover, the doctor can examine the patient by a simple examination of the neck and also he can settle a proper diagnosis by performing certain laboratory tests which have the role to determine the function of the thyroid gland. Another way which describes how much the tumor has grown is represented by the staging of the cancer. For instance one of the most common test and tends to be quite efficacious is a nuclear medicine study with radioactive iodine. By using this test it can be easily found the etiology of a thyroid nodule and in this way a nodule may appear as "hot" which means that has a large amount of radioactivity and "cold" when it doesn't take too much iodine. Both appereances of the nodules are bening, except the "cold" form which can be malignant in 15-20% of cases.

Moreover, thyroid cancer has the ability to spread and invade different parts of the throat, also affecting adjacent structured in the neck. The most common areas that tumors can affect include the tracheal and esophageal extensions, lymph nodes producing a lymphatic spread to the jugular and to the supraclavicular lymoh nodes and much more, the tumor may reach to the lumph nodes in the chest.

It is imortant to note that in some cases, thyroid cancer can affect ot only the areas around the neck such as lymph nodes, but also it can spread to other parts of the body through the bloodstream. This travel of the tumor to other organs is known as metastases and even though this form is very rare, it can be quite severe due to its possibility to affect the lungs and bones. What is more is that staging system is very used in describing the extent of the affection in both the thyroid itself and the neck. In addition, the staging system used to describe thyroid tumors is the TNM system and is used to identify and descriebe various types of cancer. The TNM systems includes 3 components: T-Describing the extend of the "primary" tumor; N-describing the spread to the lymp nodes and M-describing the spread to other organs.

In conclusion, the patients who suffer from thyroid cancer have the posibility to find out the stage and extension of their affection by performing various test and in this way the physician may prescriebe an appropriate treatment.