Identifying thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal tumors
Endocrine tumors can often be identified on routine lab tests or imaging scans performed in an emergency room for an unrelated complaint, injury or illness. This is sometimes referred to as an incidental finding. In fact, historically, more than 50% of patients receiving treatment for an endocrine tumor had evidence of the tumor for several years on previous blood work or radiologic studies.
Care Assure provides nurse navigators at participating HCA Healthcare Hospitals. These nurses identify and help make sure that patients with evidence of an endocrine tumor are notified so they can receive the appropriate follow up.
Background: Why endocrine screening is needed
Many endocrine tumors are not diagnosed and patients can suffer the effects of poorly regulated hormones from these glands for years, having a tremendous effect on how patients feel and their overall health.
Fortunately, many endocrine tumors are able to be seen on CT scans of the neck (for thyroid) or CT scans of the abdomen (for adrenal). Parathyroid tumors are often discovered by detecting high levels of calcium in the patient's blood. Unfortunately, these incidental findings are overlooked as they are often unrelated to the reason for the emergency visit.
Care Assure
The Care Assure program utilizes innovative technologies to detect endocrine tumor disease by analyzing scans for the presence of incidental adrenal and thyroid masses, as well as laboratory results for indications of parathyroid hormone overproduction plus calcium levels. Nurses navigators collaborate with the patient and their healthcare provider to connect patients to follow-up care.
Adrenal Tumor Screening
Adrenal tumors occur in 3.5% of adults. These small, round adrenal tumors are often seen when patients go to the emergency room of their local hospital and get a cat-scan of their abdomen. Adrenal tumors are benign more than 95% of the time, but they can make adrenal hormone. This means that every patient with an adrenal tumor seen on a scan should have their adrenal hormones checked.