03/18/2026
Your thyroid gland, located at the base of your neck, is small. So the idea that something that size could have lumps on it is, to say the least, unnerving.
“Patients get understandably anxious when they hear they have lumps on their thyroid gland, which are called nodules,” explains endocrinologist Priti Nath, MD, of St. Joseph's/Candler Physician Network – Endocrinology.
“But I quickly let them know that thyroid nodules are very common. Somewhere between 30 to 50 percent of the U.S. population have a nodule.
The number of nodules that are cancerous is much smaller—around five or six percent.
“Having nodules doesn’t mean that they are life-threatening, or will even affect your life,” Dr. Nath says. “Many patients don’t know they are there.”
Nath explains in the comments how imaging technology helps doctors get a detailed look at the thyroid gland.