CANCER TREATMENT A LOCAL OPTION WOMAN FINDS TOP CARE CLOSE TO HER HOME.

VALENCIA - After suffering for years with thyroid-related problems, Valencia resident Kim Weichel felt blessed when a team of local doctors diagnosed and treated her condition at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital.

The 40-year-old mother of three had endured years of suffering from hair loss, weight gain and fatigue until a Santa Monica doctor referred her to a Valencia team of physicians, who diagnosed her with thyroid cancer.

Weichel had been treated for hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) for 12 years and felt a lump inside her throat 11 months ago. A Santa Monica doctor referred Weichel to Dr. C. Philip Amoils, who ordered an ultrasound of Weichel's neck, which showed a mass on her thyroid gland.

Dr. Barbara Florentine, director of pathology and laboratory services at Newhall Memorial and the head of the hospital's aspiration biopsy clinic, reviewed the slides of cells taken from the mass and concluded that Weichel had papillary thyroid cancer, a slow-growing cancer that is the most common type of thyroid cancer.

On Oct. 8, Weichel underwent surgery by Amoils and Dr. Satish Vadapalli, who specializes in head and neck surgery.

``We removed the entire thyroid gland,'' Vadapalli said. ``Because her cancer was caught so early, but her cure rate is likely to be 90 to 95 percent.''

Weichel will receive further treatment at the hospital and will have follow-up visits with her endocrinologist.

Vadapalli said community members can be comforted that Santa Clarita Valley-based physicians have state-of-the-art equipment and a top-notch referral network to diagnose and treat thyroid diseases properly.

``We use the team approach,'' Vadapalli said. ``We are very high-tech and we usually catch problems before patients know about them.''

Thyroid cancer will strike an estimated 23,600 people this year, according to the American Cancer Society. Among those recently diagnosed is Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

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Thyroid cancer patient Kim Weichel stands with her physicians Dr. Satish Vadapalli, left, and Dr. C. Philip Amoils of Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital.