THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF MEDULLARY THYROID CANCER

The paper presents many years’ international experience in treating medullary thyroid cancer (TC). Two hundred and forty-two patients with different stages of the disease were followed up. The morphological and genetic features of this tumor are given. The results of used treatment options for medullary cancer, such as surgical, radiation, multimodality, and drug therapies, are analyzed. Surgery is a leading treatment option for this disease. The volume of surgery on a primary tumor focus depends on both the shape of a (sporadic or hereditary) tumor and its sizes. Removal of pre- and paratracheal fat is indicated for any volume of surgery for TC due to the high risk of its metastases to lymph nodes at this site. For radiotherapy there are three main indications: 1) the dubious, macroscopically and microscopically evaluated efficiency of an operation; 2) inoperable cancer; 3) distant bone metastases for palliative and symptomatic care. The now chemicals available at an oncologist’s disposal exert no significant effect on increased survival in a patient with medullary TC.