Dr. Nikiforov on Reclassifying Subtype of Thyroid Cancer

Yuri E. Nikiforov, MD, PhD, professor of Pathology, vice chair of the Department of Pathology, director, Division of Molecular & Genomic Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, discusses research that demonstrated the need to reclassify a subtype of thyroid cancer as not cancerous.

Some subtypes of thyroid cancer are indolent while others are very aggressive, Nikiforov explains. However, a certain type of thyroid cancer is very indolent and rarely causes harm to patients. While conducting long-term folllow-up of this specific patient population, research concluded that most of the patients lived a normal live and did not experience any adverse outcomes associated with the disease.

Therefore, the name is suggested to be reclassified as noninvasive follicular tumors, also known as a noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features. They will no longer be labeled with the term cancer, he adds.