Charting a course through the CEAs: diagnosis and management of medullary thyroid cancer

Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is an uncommon thyroid cancer that requires a high index of suspicion to facilitate diagnosis of early-stage disease amenable to surgical cure. The challenges of diagnosis, as well as management in the setting of persistent disease, are explored in the context of a case presenting with the incidental finding of elevated carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and an (18) F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ((18) F-FDG-PET)-positive thyroid incidentaloma detected following treatment of colorectal cancer. Strategies to individualize prognosis, and emerging PET-based imaging modalities, particularly the potential role of (18) F-DOPA-PET in staging, are reviewed.