title: [Use of thyrocalcitonin for the detection of familial medullary cancers in children].
abstract: The preoperative diagnosis of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) can be made by measuring serum calcitonin levels (CT). If the patient has a thyroid nodule--sporadic or familial MTC--the serum CT will be raised but in the familial form of the disease, the diagnosis should be made at a much earlier, subclinical stage when surgery can be curative: this is possible when raised hormone levels are observed after stimulation tests. However, as this form of cancer sometimes presents late, repeated stimulation tests are necessary, with all the difficulties that it implies, in all patients with normal hormone levels in whom it is impossible to exclude tumoral heredity, whether they belong to a family with a case of sporadic MTC or to a healthy branch of a family affected by heredity.
mesh_terms: D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D002116:Calcitonin
vernacular_title: Usage de la thyrocalcitonine pour la détection des cancers médullaires familiaux chez l'enfant.