should the whole thyroid be cut out for hurtle cell neoplam?

This happens to be the same exact thyroid cancer that I had 6 years ago and my surgeon recommended that my entire thyroid be removed. I'm guessing you are the same person who posted that your surgeon was recommending you only have half of your thyroid out but you want it all out? If that's what you want, then I don't see why you should get what you want. Usually it's the other way around, with the doctor saying "whole" and the patient saying "half" because they don't want to be dependent on pills. If you want the peace of mind and the other benefits of total thyroidectomy, that should be your call.

Unfortunately, Hurthle cell carcinoma doesn't respond to RAI as reliably as some other thyroid cancers do. Surgery is the main way to cure it. RAI mostly gets rid of the stray thyroid cells so that future thyroglobulan blood tests can be more accurate. If you only have half out, you can't have RAI or accurate thyroglobulin blood tests.

I was also pretty young for this type of cancer (24). I know the median age is 55, although you didn't say how old you are. Age is a factor. You also didn't say how large your nodule was or what stage they estimate it at. I was at stage 1 (less than 1 cm) and I still had a total thyroidectomy. Maybe my doctor was being too aggressive, but at this point, I don't really care. Six years cancer free, I can't really complain.

If you have concerns, talk to your doctor, but from what I know of this type of thyroid cancer, especially if you have higher risk factors, aggressiveness isn't unwarranted. You can also get a second opinion from another doctor. Just make sure they have experience with thyroid cancer.

If I can be any further help or if you have more information, please feel free to re-post. I wish you the best.

Sorry, it was kind of late when I responded to your post. So at this point, they aren't sure if you have cancer or not, the hurtle cell neoplasm could be benign? Right?

Okay, so it's not that your doctor only wants to take out half and leave it that way, it's that they want to take out half and check if it's cancer or not and then probably do a completion thyroidectomy if it is cancer. That's totally normal procedure. I wouldn't worry about them not being thorough with it, since they will send it to a lab and look at every little piece of it under a microscope. They will have the entire nodule to look at, not just a sample.

If it is benign, then it's fine to leave the other half of your thyroid so you probably won't be dependent on thyroid hormone replacement.

If this isn't what your doctor has proposed, then please clarify with as much detail as you have.

Sorry about the confusion.

Thanks for all help.My tumour was benign thank God!
Now I am wondering if the other side can get the same hurthle cell tumour.My dr was amazed it was claer of cancer,so miracles can happen.Hope all are getting well soon.