Actress Sofia Vergara Underwent Total Thyroidectomy for Thyroid Cancer

Actress Sofia Vergara, best known for her role in the TV hit comedy Modern Family, had her entire thyroid removed for thyroid cancer when she was 28 in 2000. This was followed by radioactive iodine therapy and now takes a daily thyroid hormone replacement for her hypothyroidism.

Image by Jenn Davis from Wikipedia

Thyroid cancer is typically first suspected on a routine examination if a neck mass consistent with a thyroid nodule is palpated. An ultrasound of the neck is typically performed to characterize the thyroid mass further which is than followed by a biopsy. Should the biopsy come back malignant, thyroid removal surgery is performed. Even if the biopsy comes back indeterminate, surgery may still be pursued to be on the safe side.

Other studies may be pursued including CT scan and a thyroid nuclear scan.

Although the type of thyroid cancer Sofia Vergara had was never revealed, she most likely had papillary thyroid carcinoma which is the most common form of thyroid cancer and is highly curable (which is where the comment of being a "good" cancer comes from).

Other less common thyroid cancers include follicular thyroid carcinoma and medullary thyroid carcinoma.

It should be mentioned that until the thyroid is removed, one can NOT be absolutely sure that thyroid cancer actually truly is present. Indeed, the president of Argentina announced that she had thyroid cancer only to find out after her thyroid was removed that no cancer was actually present. Read blog post about this "mistake".

Read more about the surgery here or watch the video below of what Sofia's thyroid surgery might have looked like.

Source:
The Workout: Sofia Vergara Hates to Exercise. NYT 5/3/13