Medullary thyroid carcinoma

Abstract

SummaryMedullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) arises from parafollicular or C cells that produce calcitonin (CT), and accounts for 5-10% of all thyroid cancers. MTC is hereditary in about 25% of cases. The discovery of a MTC in a patient has several implications: disease extent should be evaluated, phaeochromocytoma and hyperparathyroidism should be screened for and whether the MTC is sporadic or hereditary should be determined by a direct analysis of the RET protooncogene. In this review, pathological characteristics, tumour markers and genetic abnormalities in MTC are discussed. The diagnostic and therapeutic modalities applied to patients with clinical MTC and those identified with preclinical disease through familial screening are also described. Progresses concerning genetics, initial treatment, follow-up, screening and treatment of pheochromocytoma have permitted an improvement in the long-term outcome. However, there is no effective treatment for distant metastases, and new therapeutic modalities are urgently needed.

Epidemiología del cáncer de tiroides en Chile: Resultados del estudio INCATIR

“…También como lo señala la literatura 15,16 , en nuestra serie el cáncer medular destacó por su mayor compromiso ganglionar, el que junto al papilar tendieron con más frecuencia que el folicular a ser multi-céntricos.…”

Thyroid cancer and inflammation

“…In more than 80% of cases, MEN 2B is caused by the Met918Thr substitution in the kinase domain of the receptor. Roughly 40% of sporadic MTC cases harbor point mutations in RET (Leboulleux et al, 2004).…”

The influence of Ki-67 proliferation index on Tc-99m-EDDA-HYNIC-TOC somatostatin receptor scintigraphy in patients with carcinoids

“…Localizing the disease and determining the degree to which it has spread is of great importance for the process of choosing the appropriate therapy, which is why the diagnosis of NETs includes various visualization techniques, including echosonography, computerised tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, endoscopic ultrasound and different nuclear medicine visualization methods [6,7]. Over 90% of carcinoids and other NETs are characterized by excessive expression of somatostatin receptors, especially the sstr2 subtype, which is the molecular basis of their in vivo localization and the clinical application of somatostatin analogue in the treatment of these tumors.…”