[Medullary thyroid cancer: review of 28 patients]

Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) represents approximately 5% of all thyroid cancers. Surgery is the only curative treatment, which includes total thyroidectomy and in most cases, neck dissection.

To report our 10-year experience with surgical treatment of MTC.

Review of medical records and pathology reports of a university hospital. We retrieved data from 28 patients aged 47.2 ± 16 years (21 women) operated for a MTC treated between June 2002 and June 2012.

In 20 patients, MTC was diagnosed in the preoperative period. Total thyroidectomy was performed in all cases and included a neck dissection in 24 patients. Median follow-up was 48 (2-120) months. Twenty-five patients (89.2%) achieved complete remission of the disease and three had disease recurrence. There were no deaths during the follow up.

The diagnosis of MTC is mainly based on cytology. Total thyroidectomy with neck dissection is the treatment of choice. An early-stage diagnosis is associated with low rates of recurrence and absence of mortality.