Bulky Thyroid Nodule

[Lynne23]

Hi,

I lived in the South Pacific for 3 years in the early 90's.  The doctor found a thyroid nodule 3 years ago, biopsied it and it was negative.  I recently had another ultrasound and the results showed that the nodule had changed and become bulky?  It measures 1.4cm x .9cm and now they want to biopsy it again.  Every time I googled thyroid nodule and the word "bulky" thryroid cancer came up.  Is bulky synonomous with cancer?

Thanks

[cody12]

Hi Lynne,
it is easy to read a lot into the untrasound reports. I am sure that they just used the word bulky instead of large. It probably grew since the last ultrasound so when they compared it to the last ultrasound instead of saying the thyroid nodule grew larger they probably used the word bulky instead. I am not the doctor that answers here, but I just wanted to offer you my opinion so you would not worry too much.

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

Bulky is not a widely used term and does not necessarily mean cancer - a change in size/appearance should prompt a repeat biopsy though to make certain.