The Evolving Role of Positron Emission Tomography in Patients with Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma

Medullary thyroid carcinoma is a rare tumor of calcitonin-secreting parafollicular C-cells, and it has a poor prognosis compared with follicular cell-derived tumors. Total thyroidectomy is the treatment of choice, and the prognosis is closely related to the stage of the disease at initial diagnosis. It is important to localize the sites of disease precisely for subsequent surgical intervention; however, measurement of calcitonin levels in the blood provides no information about the location of active disease.