Research on Thyroid Removal

In the months that I’ve been trying to understand what’s happened to me, I’ve found a lot of research on the internet, some of it good and some of it less so.

It’s a tiring process going through all these papers, so what we’ve done is listed the original research for you at the bottom of the page and tried to explain here, what we think it all means.

While some of this is really positive, some of it is difficult to read and might be upsetting, so please do give it a miss if you don't feel up to it!

Thyroid Transplants

There’s quite a lot here and there on the internet about voicebox transplants. This was big news in America a year or so ago. The interesting thing as far as we’re concerned is that in this experimental surgery the thyroid is transplanted along with the voicebox – so clearly a thyroid gland can be transplanted.

The other thing that we noticed is that this is a transplant done not to save a life, but to increase the quality of a life.

Now there’s a team in the UK, led by Professor Martin Birchall from University College London who are ready to do voice transplants in the UK.

There’s also news that Professor Birchall could begin trials for stem cell voice box transplants could begin in the United Kingdom next year. He’s already carried out a stem cell windpipe transplant in 2008. This is especially interesting because it could have a far lower rejection risk and reduce the need for immunosuppressant drugs.

Life without a Thyroid

There are a lot of doctors under the impression that everyone can live a full life without a thyroid and that taking artificial thyroxin is just as good as having a thyroid.

We don’t want to take anything away from those who are managing well - many people without a thyroid are living happy and fulfilling lives - but we also know of a lot of people who would disagree with those doctors.

There is research out there that confirms what we’re experiencing. Surveys seem to suggest that a large number of people without a thyroid are suffering from depression and chronic fatigue.

We’ve found papers that confirm that there are often issues with bone loss, although this is less common.  From what we’ve seen this is to do with calcium, but it’s not all about the parathyroid and whether or not that’s damaged. The thyroid itself does play a role in our calcium balance. Other studies highlight fatigue, others have shown a wide range of physical, social and emotional effects.

There’s also been a study on rats which makes a link between the lack of a thyroid and arthritis. Personally, we’re not keen on animal experimentation but it’s a pretty convincing bit of research so we’ve left it in the list. It’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to click on it.

There’s a list of links at the bottom of this page. We know that some days this is really not what you want to read. But if you’re worried that you’re imagining it, we can tell you that you’re not. People all over the world have reported problems after thyroid transplants.

It’s not in the mind. The endocrine system is a pretty delicate piece of machinery and if you’ve lost a piece of it you’re going to have to take good care of yourself. Please do that. Be hopeful. Be gentle with yourself.

• A BBC article about a woman who had larynx transplant - and with it a thyroid 
•  The Daily Telegraph on the approval for experimental voice transplants in the UK
•  News that trials for stem cell voice box transplants could begin in 2013
• A report from scientists who say that the body rejects thyroid tissue when transplanted much less than other body tissues.
•  An Italian study that found that women taking artificial thyroid hormone after thyroid removal suffered from bone loss 
• A report into the reasons for calcium loss after thyroid removal. It's complicated but it's not all to do with the parathyroid gland.
• This survey by American scientists into quality of life after Thyroid removal due to cancer found that the majority reported health affects.
• Chinese research that followed cancer patients after Thyroid removal and asked them about their quality of life over 3 years which often deteriorated. One of the main problems was fatigue.
• A report into quality of life of patients receiving artificial thyroid hormone after thyroidectomy because of cancer - this shows that quality of life is affected in a range of ways, physical, social and emotional.
• An investigation into the link between lack of thyroid hormone and arthritis, carried out by removing rat's thyroid glands or giving them an anti-thyroid chemical. WARNING: some of the images might be upsetting. We're not condoning animal experimentation but we think these results are important .