Prognostic factors in smallMTCs

Medullary thyroid carcinomas (MTC) account for 2–10% of all thyroid carcinomas. Of late, small medullary thyroid carcinomas (smallMTCs: ≤1.5 cm) are diagnosed more frequently, possibly because of routine calcitonin measurement in nodular disease. However, their clinical significance and natural history are not clear.

In order to evaluate the clinical significance of smallMTCs (≤1.5 cm), Saltiki et al. examined the clinical and biochemical parameters at diagnosis and during follow-up in a cohort of MTC patients focusing on tumour size in a retrospective study.

They found that tumour size is of clinical importance for the progression of disease only in patients with MTCs >1 cm. This study also confirmed that post-operative calcitonin is a more important predictor than size for disease progression.

Read full article at Saltiki et al. (2014) European Journal of Endocrinology 171 117–126. DOI: 10.1530/EJE-14-0076