title: Calcitonin measurements for early detection of medullary thyroid carcinoma or its premalignant conditions in Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
abstract: The measurement of basal serum calcitonin (CT) in patients with evidence of Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) has been proposed in a recent study demonstrating an increased prevalence of elevated basal and stimulated CT. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency and relevance of elevated CT levels in HT. The basal sera CT were measured in 568 consecutive HT patients using a chemiluminescent immuno-assay. Whenever the serum CT was > 10 pg/ml, a pentagastrin (PG) stimulation test was performed. Two patients with abnormal/pathological PG tests were identified. Total thyroidectomy and lymph node dissection revealed for the first patient medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and for the second patient C cell hyperplasia (CCH), together with papillary thyroid carcinoma. Our data showed a low prevalence of MTC and its premalignant condition CCH in HT patients; nevertheless, the patient with MTC presented lymph node metastasis. The fact that both cases presented without evidence of nodular thyroid disease highlights the persistent diagnostic dilemma of CT screening programs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schuetz
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beheshti
authors.forename: Semun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oezer
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Novotny
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bieglmayer
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Niederle
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kletter
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dudczak
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Karanikas
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pirich
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002116:Calcitonin / Q000097:blood*; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D050031:Hashimoto Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D051096:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret / Q000235:genetics; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D002116:Calcitonin; D051096:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret; C099282:RET protein, human