What is TCF-UK?

Thyroid Cancer Forum- UK (TCF-UK) is a national organisation that facilitates communication between doctors and scientists working in the thyroid cancer field. It is a free and independent service available to consultants and senior scientists involved in the treatment of these diseases in the UK and Ireland. It promotes awareness of recent advances in thyroid cancer management through the distribution of journal abstracts and national/international meeting details as well as facilitating discussion between members on clinical problems, potential clinical trials and research projects.

As well as the above facilities for professionals there is also this website accessible to anyone that provides general information on thyroid cancer as well as links to other information sources.

I hope you find it helpful. If you have any comments please get in touch via contact@thyroid-cancer-forum-uk.org

Do you have medullary or anaplastic thyroid cancer?

One aspect of thyroid cancer management that is of particular interest to the group is the treatment of medullary and anaplastic thyroid cancers. These are rare diseases and therefore no single doctor or hospital has large numbers of patients under their care. For these reasons it is difficult to analyse the various treatment options available. TCF-UK has therefore embarked on a national project to collect information on these rare diseases so that we are better placed to make decisions in the future.

As TCF-UK is not part of the NHS (although its members work in the NHS) we cannot collect the necessary data without asking the permission of the patients involved. To this end, a member of the thyroid cancer team must ask each patient if they are willing to give their consent for data collection. A patient information leaflet is available and the consent only needs to be verbal and noted in the hospital records.

The data collected is essentially anonymous and can only be accessed by your own doctor and the TCF-UK data controller. Due to the rarity of the diseases it will take years for us to collect enough data that can be analysed, presented or published. We expect this data to be very valuable in facilitating developments in thyroid cancer treatment in the future.

Your participation may help others

If you have medullary or anaplastic thyroid cancer and would like to participate in this important project that may possibly help others in the future, please contact your thyroid cancer specialist and/or me so that we can add your details to facilitate this project. Not all thyroid cancer doctors are TCF-UK members so they may not be aware of the project but hopefully they will be willing to join or to let me collect information on your behalf. If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.

Dr Kate Garcez
TCF-UK Lead
Consultant Clinical Oncologist
Christie NHS Trust
Manchester
M20 4BX

contact@thyroid-cancer-forum-uk.org

Thyroid Cancer Forum UK