title: Sporadic medullary microcarcinoma of the thyroid: a retrospective analysis of eighty cases.
abstract: Clinical characteristics and prognosis of 80 patients (53 women and 27 men) with sporadic medullary thyroid carcinomas (MTC), less than 1 cm in size (micro-MTC), operated on between 1971 and 1996 are reported (73 total and 7 partial thyroidectomies). These patients, obtained from a national database of 899 patients with MTC, were compared with 357 cases of sporadic MTC greater than 1 cm and 149 subjects with familial MTC less than 1 cm (familial micro-MTC). Median age at surgery was 52.5 years, a distribution similar to larger sporadic MTC. Micro-MTC was identified due to elevated calcitonin (47.5%), clinically identified lymph node (10.0%), distant metastases (6.3%) or pathologic finding at surgery (36.2%). Diarrhea and/or flushing were observed in 6 patients including 4 with clinically identified lymph node. Among patients who had lymph node dissection at surgery (68.8%), lymph node involvement with tumor was observed in 30.9%, and was significantly more frequent in multifocal (7/11) than in unifocal micro-MTC (p < 0.03). All sporadic micro-MTC were unilateral. Survival rate was 93.9% +/- 4.4% (SE) at 10 years, greater than that observed in sporadic macro-MTC (p = 0.04). Normal postoperative basal calcitonin (CT) was obtained in 71.1% of micro-MTC patients versus 33.6% in sporadic macro-MTC (p < 0.01). Sporadic micro-MTC is much more frequent than expected, 15% of MTC in our series. Although specific survival rate and percentage of biological cure in micro-MTC are significantly better than for larger tumors, the frequency of lymph node involvement, however, justifies an aggressive surgical approach including total thyroidectomy and bilateral central lymph node dissection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, University Paris XIII, Hopital Avicenne, Bobigny, France.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Beressi
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Beressi
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Franc
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Niccoli-Sire
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Conte-Devolx
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Murat
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caron
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Baldet
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Kraimps
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Bigorgne
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Chabre
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lecomte
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Modigliani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome