Medullary Carcinoma of the Thyroid Gland

Abstract

We report six patients with medullary carcinoma of the thyroid gland from a total of 92 with thyroid carcinoma seen in Oxford over an 11-year period. Our patients showed all the main features of this disease with the exception of mucosal neuromas. Medullary carcinoma, sporadic or familial, may be complicated by wide endocrine disorder and its associations with diarrhoea, flushing, calcitonin production, hyperparathyroidism, phaeochromocytoma, diabetes mellitus, and Cushing's syndrome are discussed. One patient died from glioblastoma multiforme and the possible relationship of this, the mucosal neuromas and the phaeochromocytomas to neuro-fibromatosis are considered.