Genetic and Clinical Features of Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma: The Experience of a Single Center in Costa Rica

Autor: Javier Calvo, Gabriel Torrealba, Adriana Sáenz, Carlos Santamaría, Estela Morera, Silvia Alvarado, Yolanda Roa, Michelle González
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Cancer Epidemiology, Vol 2016 (2016)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1687-8558
1687-8566
DOI: 10.1155/2016/9637173
Popis: Background. Activating mutations in the RET gene leads to medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). Guidelines encourage performing RET analysis in subjects with hereditary and sporadic disease. Materials and Methods. Design. Observational, case series report study. Patients. Subjects diagnosed with MTC, with a thyroidectomy performed in a single center in Costa Rica between the years 2006 and 2015. Diagnosis and Follow-Up. Pre- and postoperative calcitonin, RET mutation, and neck ultrasound and tomography were obtained. Results. 21 subjects with histological diagnosis of MTC were followed up. The average age at diagnosis was 52.0 ± 15.7 years. The preoperative mean value of calcitonin was 1340 ± 665 pg/mL. Evidence of RET mutation was found in 26.3% of the patients, with only 2 of them grouped in the same kindred. We found statistically significant differences in mean ages between mutated (38.4 ± 20.2 y) versus nonmutated RET gene (54.6 ± 11.8 y, p=0.04). There were no significant differences regarding tumor size, metastases, and surgical reintervention. Conclusions. We report the results of RET mutation analysis in subjects with MTC in a single center of Costa Rica. The availability of this tool increases the probability of identifying familial MTC, with the benefit of detecting affected subjects and their relatives at an earlier age.
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