Traitement chirurgical du cancer médullaire sporadique de la thyroïde

Inherited and sporadic medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is a rare carcinoma. Sporadic MTCs represent 70% of cases. Diagnosis is currently made with the routine use of serum calcitonin (CT) measurements to screen patients with nodular thyroid disease. Surgery is the only curative treatment of MTC and since cervical lymph nodes metastases are frequent and can occur at an early stage, a standardized lymph node dissection should be associated to the total thyroidectomy. However, the extent of lymphadenectomy remains debated. Prognosis of MTC is related to both stage of the disease and extend of initial surgery. When tumor remnants persist after surgery, there are very few therapeutic alternatives, and these are generally of limited curative value.