Locations
City of Hope
Duarte, CA
About
SpecialtiesDoctors may have more than one area of specialty interest. Board certification in a specialty area means the doctor has completed formal training and has practice experience in that specialty, and has passed the certification examination from the corresponding accredited medical specialty board.
Doctors may have more than one area of specialty interest. Board certification in a specialty area means the doctor has completed formal training and has practice experience in that specialty, and has passed the certification examination from the corresponding accredited medical specialty board.
Surgical Oncology
Languages spoken
English
Doctor Q&A
40 Answers
17 Agrees
The number of answers this doctor has agreed with.
A 43-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Not usually. : Thyroid cancer grows outside of the windpipe and therefore almost never causes a productive cough. However, in the extremely rare event that it invad... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 40-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
It depends.: Most people have four parathyroids, and even one parathyroid can produce enough parathyroid hormone to keep the calcium level fine. If, however, all ... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 40-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
There are options.: The standard treatment, if the thyroid cancer that spreads to the chest takes it up, is radioactive iodine. Otherwise there are drugs called tkis suc... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 48-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Probably not long.: Triple negative breast cancer is the most aggressive breast cancer, because it grows and spreads fast and there are fewer options for treatment. If n... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 38-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Yes, but very rarely: Breast cancer can spread to many different organs such as the bones, brain, lungs, and skin, but very rarely to the kidneys.
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 20-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
As much as anybody.: Your chance of thyroid cancer is as much as anybody else. There is no increased risk of thyroid cancer with graves', but it doesn't decrease the risk... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 49-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
No.: The only way this could influence your risk of breast cancer is if wearing it 24/7 prevents you from performing self breast exams.
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 49-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
No.: No study has ever shown that cinnamon can cure breast cancer. Whether it can help fight or prevent breast cancer is an open question. A group at cit... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 32-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
No.: Sweet 'n' low, which is made from saccharin, has never been shown to cause thyroid cancer, in man or in animals. There was some concern in the past t... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 40-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
No.: Usually nipple retraction is more concerning. On the other hand, any change in your nipple, especially if not symmetrical to the other side, should b... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 32-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
No.: Your thyroid is outside your windpipe and phlegm would be inside your airway. There are some scenarios where thyroid cancer could indirectly cause co... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 43-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
No.: In fact, the majority of breast cancers in the us are found without a visible lump. Obviously, a visible lump needs to be evaluated, regardless.
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 35-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Usually.: Usually a breast cancer lump will grow, but certainly breast cancer lumps can stay the same size for a very long time.
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 46-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Frequently light up: Breast cancers frequently light up on pet scan but the purpose of the scan is usually to look for metastases, not look at the actual breast tumor. Sm... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 46-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Yes.: Stage 3c can be cured, usually with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. There are new targeted agents that have improved this, based on "targeting"... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 48-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Yes.: As long as your thyroid levels are normal that should be fine.
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 46-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Essentially no: I have treated over a thousand patients with thyroid cancer and have never had a patient with spread to the gallbladder. There are no reports in the ... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 33-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Can mean many things: A lumpy thyroid gland may have a nodule or nodules that can either be benign or cancer. Frequently when you have multiple lumps in the thyroid it is ... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 31-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Continued followup. : If you really mean grade 3 breast cancer that is usually referring to pathologic type, but has much less significance than stage 3 breast cancer, whic... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 40-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Usually.: Stage 3 breast cancer is a more advanced breast cancer, usually with significant size and invasion and/or spread to lymph nodes. There is a greater ch... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 37-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
No.: Thyroid cancer does not cause weight gain. Sometimes the thyroid is not working and someone has thyroid cancer at the same time but they are separate... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 43-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Graves/Thyroiditis: Most commonly this is due to graves disease or thyroiditis. In both of these cases your immune system attacks your thyroid and tries to kill it, beca... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 36-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
No.: Lung hyperplasia would be the overgrowth of lung tissue in a benign manner, that is essentially extra normal tissue, not cancer. There is no relation... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 44-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
No.: In fact, touching your breasts frequently in the form of a self exam may help you find breast cancer at an earlier stage when it is more likely to be ... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 30-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
No.: Breast bondage does not cause breast cancer and almost certainly has no effect on raising the risk of breast cancer.
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 29-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
May need workup.: It is common to have enlarged lymph nodes in the setting of hashimoto's disease, since your immune system is revved up against a part of your own body... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 49-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Yes. : The problem is you will not know it is a complete pathological response until the area is removed, proving that there was no microscopic cancer left. ... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 34-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
It is curable.: All breast cancer is bad, but the prognosis changes with stages. So the lowest stage has the best prognosis and the highest stage, stage 4, has the wo... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 56-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
What is question?: I don't know what your question is, but with thyroiditis your immune system thinks your thyroid is foreign, like a virus, and tries to kill it. It is... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 22-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Multiple factors.: If by pathophysiology you mean cause of papillary thyroid cancer this has not been completely defined. Undoubtedly there is a genetic component, that ... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 27-year-old female asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Hashimoto's: Based on what you have written, including the cut off "hypothyroi" you almost certainly have hashimoto's disease, or autoimmune thyroiditis. This is ... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Yes.: However, it is extremely rare that it does this. To give you an example I have been involved in the care of over a 1000 patients with thyroid cancer ... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years agoMerged
A 37-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
No. : Once in a while i will see a patient that has breast cancer that had trauma similar to being hit with a softball who thinks the trauma caused the brea... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 44-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Usually Slow.: It depends on the type of thyroid cancer but the most common type, papillary thyroid cancer, usually grows and spreads slowly. There is another very ... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 38-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
It depends.: If the study is referring to a thyroid nodule this can be somewhat more suspicious for thyroid cancer, but a biopsy always has to be done to see wheth... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 45-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Not breast cancer.: Sunlight does not appear to cause breast cancer. However, it is clear that overexposure to sunlight can cause skin cancer.
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 32-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
No.: It is very unlikely to be colon cancer. The most common cause of a high white cell count is infection. Sometimes a blood cancer will also cause a hi... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 37-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Most of the time no.: Breast cancer frequently has no symptoms at all, which is why we have mammograms and breast self exams. Extensive disease such as metastases can caus... Read More
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
A 46-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
Extremely Unlikely: A metastasis to the intestines or rectum can cause this but is extremely unlikely. More importantly, you should be evaluated for other causes of the ... Read More
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
A 34-year-old member asked:
Dr. John Yimanswered
Surgical Oncology 30 years experience
No.: There is no known association of marijuana with thyroid cancer recurrence.
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
90,000 U.S. doctors in 147 specialties are here to answer your questions, provide medical advice, write prescriptions, and more.
TestimonialsRecommendations and Thank you notes are endorsements given from patients or other doctors.
Recommendations and Thank you notes are endorsements given from patients or other doctors.
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Recommendations
29
Thank you notes
HealthTap member
Mar 31, 2015
Dr. Yim is an amazing doctor! #nationaldoctorsday2015 #virtualflower1
HealthTap member
Mar 31, 2015
Dr. Yim is an amazing doctor! #nationaldoctorsday2015 #virtualflower1
HealthTap member
Thank you, your answer was very helpful!
HealthTap member
This made me feel good. Thanks!
HealthTap member
This was very helpful. Thanks!
Education & Training
Medical/Graduate school
Stanford University School of Medicine, CA
Graduated 1992MD
Residency
Washington University in Saint Louis
Awards
Top Surgical Oncologist, First Place, California - Summer
2013
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