Updates in the management of medullary thyroid cancer.

TLDR: Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) comprises approximately 4% of all thyroid cancers, which accounted for approximately 1,340 cases in 2010, and the mean overall disease-specific survival is approximately 8.6 years, but this can change drastically depending on whether the patient has regional lymph node metastases or distant metastases at the time of diagnosis.

Abstract: MH Based on last year’s estimates from the American Cancer Society, approximately 44,670 new cases of thyroid cancer were diagnosed in the United States. Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) comprises approximately 4% of all thyroid cancers, which accounted for approximately 1,340 cases in 2010. MTC is different from other thyroid cancers because it arises from the C cells of the thyroid and not the follicular epithelium. This type of cancer has no hormonal interaction with the thyroid follicular cells. Because of the different cell line that MTC originates from, it is not treated in the same way one would treat differentiated thyroid cancer, which encompasses papillary, follicular, and Hürthle cell carcinomas. Differentiated thyroid cancer is typically treated with surgery followed by radioactive iodine and thyroid hormone–suppressive therapy. However, MTC is not responsive to radioactive iodine or thyroid hormone–suppressive therapy. In MTC, the mean overall disease-specific survival is approximately 8.6 years, but this can change drastically depending on whether the patient has regional lymph node metastases or distant metastases at the time of diagnosis. If lymph node metastases are present (considered stage III or IVA MTC), 10-year survival has been estimated to be 75.5%, and if distant metastases are present, the rate is 40%. Hence, it definitely makes a difference as to what stage the patient is at the time of diagnosis. H&O What is the RET gene? What are the implications of RET gene mutations?