Clinicopathological Characteristics and Prognostic Factors of Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma

Abstract

Background: Studies on the clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic factors of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) in Korea are very rare. Methods: We enrolled 56 MTC patients who underwent surgery at Samsung Medical Center from 1995 to 2006. We analyzed their gender, age at diagnosis, the pathologic findings, the TNM stage, the association with multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN), RET protooncogene mutation and the, serum basal calcitonin levels before and after the surgery. We investigated the overall survival and the prognostic factors. Results: The mean age at diagnosis was 46 years and the male/female ratio was 1:2.7. Fine needle aspiration cytology detected 61% of the MTC. The mean tumor size was 2.6 cm (range: 0.2-9.0 cm). Fifty-two percent of patients had the TNM stage more than III at the time of diagnosis. Distant metastasis was found in 5.3% (3/56) of the patients, either at the time of diagnosis or during the followup period. Hereditary MTC comprised of 23% of the patients and the disease developed at a younger age (38 years vs. 48 years, respectively, P