Postoperative calcitonin level as a predictor for recurrence of medullary thyroid carcinoma after resection / 中华普通外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To evaluate postoperative calcitonin level as a prognostic marker in long-term follow-up of medullary thyroid carcinoma(MTC).Methods:Clinical data of 146 MTC cases treated at Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital from Jan 2011 to Dec 2019 were reviewed retrospectively. The relationship between postoperative calcitonin and disease-free survival was analyzed. According to the level of calcitonin six months after operation, patients were divided into normal level group and elevated group.Results:The median tumor size in those 146 cases was (1.78±1.22)cm, and 81 cases had lymph node metastasis. After 6 months of follow-up, 89 cases had normal calcitonin, with median tumor size of (1.63±1.20)cm, and 35 cases had lymph node metastasis . After a median follow-up of 56 months, 78 patients had normal calcitonin, 11 patients had biochemical relapse, 3 patients had structural relapse, and no patients died. 57 cases had a higher calcitonin ,median tumor size (1.97±1.22)cm, 46 cases had lymph node metastasis, 5 cases had distant metastasis, 18 cases had structural recurrence, and 7 patients died. Univariate analysis showed that lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, preoperative calcitonin, lymph node dissection and postoperative calcitonin were correlated with long-term disease-free survival (all P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that postoperative calcitonin and TNM stage were an independent prognosis factor for disease-free survival in MTC patients (all P < 0.05). Conclusion:Postoperative calcitonin is a independent prognostic marker for long-term disease-free survival in MTC patients.