Your Input Needed: Survey of Surgery Versus Active Surveillance (no surgery)

Dear ThyCa Friend, 

This message comes to you in cooperation with ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc. 

We are thyroid cancer researchers who are planning a research study to compare surgery to active surveillance (just monitoring, no surgery) as an initial management strategy for Low Risk Thyroid Lesions (LRTLs). 

LRTLs include small papillary thyroid cancers confined to the thyroid gland, and nodules with certain characteristics that make them likely to be cancerous. 

Today, most people with LRTLs have surgery. Active surveillance is a relatively new approach, without very much research on it. We want your perspective to help us refine this study. 

Regardless of what type of thyroid cancer or nodule you have experienced, or if you are a caregiver for someone with thyroid cancer or a nodule, we want to hear from you. 

Who is doing this survey? We are a group of researchers representing nearly 20 hospitals around the country, partnering with ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association and Light of Life Foundation. The group is led by doctors at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice in New Hampshire and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. 

How will my answers be used? This is an anonymous survey. No information about you will be collected or kept. We will use you answers to refine our research study comparing surgery to active surveillance for LRTLs. 

Your perspectives tell us if we are asking appropriate questions in the research-- questions that are relevant to you.

Please feel free to skip any questions you do not want to answer. This survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete. 

Thank you in advance for taking part in this survey.

Louise Davies, M.D., Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, New Hampshire
Benjamin Roman, M.D., Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
Michael Tuttle, M.D., Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York