[Long-term course of medullary thyroid gland carcinoma]

To obtain information on the outcome of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) in the Berne area, a retrospective analysis of the 28 MTCs diagnosed by the Institute of Pathology of the University of Berne in the 25-year period between 1969 and 1994 was done. These 28 MTCs represented 2.4% of all thyroid malignancies diagnosed at the Bernese Institute of Pathology in the 25-year period mentioned above. 25 MTCs were sporadic and 3 associated with a multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) syndrome. Follow-up data were available from 27 of the 28 MTC patients. After a follow-up period of between 2 and 275 months 7 of these 27 patients had died form the MTC (among them all 4 patients with T4 tumors) and two were alive with tumor. 18 patients, including all 14 patients with T1 or T2 tumors without lymph node or distant metastases at the time of diagnosis, were alive and without evidence of tumor at the end of the follow-up period.

MTCs are rare malignant tumors and comprise only a small fraction of all thyroid carcinomas in the Berne area. Most MTCs were sporadic, only a small minority was associated with a MEN syndrome. The TNM stage was the most important prognostic factor for patient survival. These data are in accordance with the results of similar MTC surveys done in other areas.