First comprehensive guidelines for managing medullary thyroid carcinoma published in Thyro...( New Rochelle NY May 27 2009New guid...)

New Rochelle, NY, May 27, 2009New 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, have been developed by the American Thyroid Association and published online ahead of print in Thyroid, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com). The guidelines are available free online at www.liebertpub.com/thy

"Following careful peer review, Thyroid has published the first comprehensive set of clinical guidelines for the treatment of all medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) disorders," says Charles H. Emerson, MD, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal and Professor Emeritus at University of Massachusetts Medical School, in Worcester. "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, as they illuminate 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 that accounts for about 4% of all thyroid cancer cases in the United States. Nearly 25% 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.

The American Thyroid Association (www.thyroid.org) has compiled 122 evidence-based recommendations that cover a range of clinical topics, including diagnosis a
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