Medullary carcinoma of the thyroid surgical management

Abstract

Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) accounts for about 6-10% of all thyroid malignancies. About 75% of patients with MTC have sporadic disease, and 25% have either familial MTC, multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) IIA, or IIB (1). The different clinical types of MTC are associated with different but specific ret point mutations. About 50% of patients with sporadic MTC also have somatic ret mutations in their medullary cancer that appear to correlate with specific mutations (2). For example, the 918 mutation associated with MENIIB when found as a somatic mutation in the tumor of MTC patients is linked with a worse prognosis (2). © 2006 Humana Press Inc.