Sheikh Khalifa Medical City begins thyroid cancer treatment

"Inaugurating the Thyroid Cancer Clinic at SKMC is part of our overall strategy for expanding and offering the best services to our patients at SKMC. It demonstrates the commitment of Seha and SKMC in providing advanced medical care that meets internationally recognized standards of excellence and patients' satisfaction."
"SKMC is engaged to provide comprehensive health care services in all of the disciplines relevant to the needs and priorities of the community to attain the highest levels of patients care and satisfaction," Dr. Strong added.

Dr. Atul Mehta, Chief Medical Officer at SKMC, said, "SKMC remains the flagship institution for the health system in Abu Dhabi and this is another challenge to confirm our commitment towards different contemporary medical practices. We are committed to continuous improvement of quality care to ultimately improve the health of the UAE population."

Dr. David Spence, Chairman of Medicine Institute at SKMC, said, "The treatment of Thyroid Cancer requires the interaction of several different medical disciplines including endocrinology/oncology, surgery, nuclear physics, radiology and laboratory medicine in a carefully coordinated manner. This coordinated total care has been brought together, as part of the expanding provision of care for cancer patients at SKMC."

Dr. Ali Khalil, Consultant Endocrinology and Physician-in-Charge of the Thyroid Cancer Clinic, indicated, "We currently have 82 patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer attending SKMC for treatment purposes. It is now definitely more convenient to our patients to get fully treated here at SKMC and under the supervision of all their physicians rather than visiting other hospitals for the same purpose. This will assure delivering the proper treatment by the experts of all disciplines at SKMC and we are now proud to offer the adjuvant treatment for a thyroid cancer, i.e. radioactive iodine treatment."

Dr. Peter Lange, Chairman of the Department of Radiology at SKMC, added, "It is great to see this new service finally being available to patients in the UAE after all the hard work that has been put into implementing this service by all the various sides involved."

How do doctors determine what treatment will be necessary?

Only 5% of thyroid masses are cancerous with the potential for spreading locally or to other parts of the body. If the biopsy result shows malignancy, the treatment will depend on the type of thyroid cancer, the size of the tumor, the patients age, and whether or not the cancer has spread. The multidisciplinary teams uses their combined experience and knowledge to determine the treatment option which is the most appropriate for the patient condition. Staging may involve tests including ultrasound, CT or MRI scans, chest x-rays, or whole body scans, which allow determination of where the cancer has spread.