Newswise — The American Thyroid Association (www.thyroid.org) has published the first set of comprehensive guidelines designed to standardize and optimize the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), an uncommon and challenging form of thyroid cancer. The guidelines appear in Thyroid, the ATA's peer-reviewed journal, and online at www.liebertpub.com/thy, where they are available at no charge.
"Following careful peer review, Thyroid has published the first comprehensive set of clinical guidelines for the treatment of all medullary thyroid carcinoma disorders," says Charles H. Emerson, MD, editor-in-chief of Thyroid and professor emeritus at University of Massachusetts Medical School. "This form of thyroid cancer is especially important because of its high mortality, strong inheritance patterns, and associations with other serious glandular disorders. These evidence-based guidelines will become a benchmark for patient management and clinical research, illuminating the diagnostic and therapeutic strategies required when caring for gravely ill patients and those in the anxiety-ridden early stages of the disease and when offering testing and counseling to family members."
MTC is a complex disease accounting for about four percent of all thyroid cancer cases in the United States. Nearly 25 percent of cases worldwide are familial and present as an autosomal inherited disorder. In individuals with the inherited form of MTC, a preneoplastic lesion called "C-cell hyperplasia" will first develop, and then progress to an invasive, life-threatening malignancy.
In its MTC guidelines, the American Thyroid Association has compiled 122 evidence-based recommendations covering a range of clinical topics, including: diagnosis and therapy for early disease; genetic testing; surgical management; post-surgical treatment and monitoring; management of persistent or recurrent MTC and metastatic disease; and long-term follow-up. The guidelines also propose directions for future research on MTC.
"Medullary thyroid cancer is a rare and challenging disease that few health care professionals ever master," says Richard T. Kloos, MD, chair of the ATA Guidelines Task Force, secretary and chief operating officer of the American Thyroid Association, and co-director of the Ohio State University Thyroid Cancer Unit. "The ATA guidelines promote optimal medical care grounded in an evidence-based review of the literature by an international and multidisciplinary panel. It is our hope that they will serve all the professionals who care for these patients, including those in the fields of endocrinology, genetics, pediatrics, radiology, nuclear medicine, surgery, and oncology."
Thyroid, the official journal of the American Thyroid Association, is an authoritative, peer-reviewed journal published monthly both in print and online. Thyroid publishes original articles and timely reviews that reflect the rapidly advancing changes in our understanding of thyroid physiology and pathology, from the molecular biology of the cell to clinical management of thyroid disorders.
The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is the lead organization in promoting thyroid health and understanding thyroid biology. The ATA values scientific inquiry, clinical excellence, public service, education, collaboration, and collegiality. ATA members are physicians and scientists who work to enhance the understanding of thyroid physiology and pathophysiology, improve diagnosis and treatment of thyroid diseases, and promote the education of physicians, patients, and the public about thyroid cancer. Thyroid diseases are the most common disorders of the endocrine system, affecting almost 13 million Americans.
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