Endocrine Abstracts

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a rare but relatively serious disease, whose prognosis depends on the stage of the tumor and the quality of the initial surgical treatment. The determination of the plasma calcitonin; cervical ultrasound, and fine needle aspiration biopsy are first line examinations; nevertheless they do not always make it possible to make a certain diagnosis in preoperative; moreover they do not define the MTC nodule in a multi nodular goiter and the metastatic lymph nodes. In this study; fine needle aspiration (FNA) and CT FNA were performed in 45 lesions. By comparing the results to histology; the sensitivity of the FNA for the diagnosis is estimated at 53.12% and the specificity at 92.30% while the sensitivity of the CT FNA is 96.87% and the specificity is 100% and this for a cut off >22.99 pg/ml. These results suggest that CT FNA; a simple; accessible and inexpensive exam; represents an interesting diagnostic approach that provides an additional argument for the positive and topographic diagnosis of MTC.