Medullary thyroid cancer

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled ”Medullary thyroid cancer and the impact of genetic testing.” (Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2006 Oct;10(5):571-5). Authors are Keatts EL and Itano J, from the San Angelo Community Medical Center, Texas, USA. Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) consists of a rare, undifferentiated tumor and often is described as having a chronic and indolent disease process. Approximately 5%-10% of all thyroid malignancies are MTC, and about 25% of patients diagnosed with the disease have a genetic form that was inherited through a mutation of the RET proto-oncogene. The mutation is expressed by an autosomal dominant allele and, if inherited, has almost a 100% chance of developing into a malignancy. Detection of the germline mutation identifies individuals at risk and enables prophylactic treatment for the prevention of MTC. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.