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. 2006 Dec 21:4:97.
doi: 10.1186/1477-7819-4-97.

Serum calcitonin negative medullary thyroid carcinoma

Michael Sand  1 , Marcos Gelos, Daniel Sand, Falk G Bechara, Gerd Bonhag, Ellen Welsing, Benno Mann
Affiliations

Serum calcitonin negative medullary thyroid carcinoma

Michael Sand et al. World J Surg Oncol. .

Abstract

Background: Medullary thyroid carcinomas (MTC) constitute about 5 to 7% of thyroid neoplasms. They originate from parafollicular C cells which produce Calcitonin, a hormone which has an impact on calcium metabolism and represents the biochemical activity of MTC. In rare cases pre-operative serum calcitonin can be negative.

Case presentation: We report on a 73-year-old female patient with a rare case of a serum calcitonin negative medullary thyroid carcinoma who suffered fulminant post-operative course and died of multiple metastasis.

Conclusion: This case shows that in very rare cases MTCs do not secrete calcitonin making diagnosis and tumour follow-up difficult. To this date, only few reports describing this combination of circumstances were found in the English literature.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Histopathology showing a MTC with weak positive immunhistochemistry for Calcitonin (× 40).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Horizontal section of the head (CT-scan) showing an intracerebral metastasis (diameter 0,4 mm).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Coronal section of the chest (CT-scan) showing multiple lung metastases.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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