C-cell hyperplasia developing in residual thyroid following resection for sporadic medullary carcinoma

✍ Scribed by Thomas M. Ulbright; Frederick T. Kraus; Lawrence W. O'Neal

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 491 KB
• Volume: 48
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19811101)48:9<2076::aid-cncr2820480926>3.0.co;2-9

✦ Synopsis

Four years following resection of a medullary carcinoma of the thyroid, a 49-year-old man experienced elevated serum calcitonin levels. There was no evidence of metastasis. A re-exploration of the patient's neck demonstrated a histologically normal thyroid remnant that demonstrated C-cell hyperplasia by immunoperoxidase staining. The lack of a familial history, a normal parathyroid, and the absence of C-cell hyperplasia in non-tumorous thyroid of the original resection support the concept that the patient had a sporadic tumor. Patients who have undergone incomplete thyroidectomies for non-familial disease are at risk for developing C-cell proliferation and possibly medullary carcinoma. W e conclude that the C-cell hyperplasia in this thyroid remnant is the source of the elevated calcitonin level; this mechanism may also explain postoperatively elevated calcitonin levels in some patients with medullary carcinoma treated by partial thyroidectomy and high calcitonin levels for a variable period after complete thyroidectomy .