Abstract
Thyroid carcinoma is the most common malignancy of the endocrine system and it accounts approximately 1%–3% of all human cancers. Among the three subtypes of thyroid cancers, medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is the most common cause of death in patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) type 2A (MEN2A), MEN type 2B (MEN2B) and familial medullary thyroid carcinoma (FMTC). Generally, MTC accounts for up to 10% of all types of thyroid cancers. It is one of the aggressive forms of thyroid carcinoma which is manifested in childhood ages more than adults, and it comprises about 17% of all pediatric thyroid cancer. Like the other cancers, prevention of MTC is easier than its cure. In the recent decades (from 1993) the diagnosis of asymptomatic child carrying RET mutations in the affected families by MTC, has been provided by genetic screening, and prophylactic thyroidectomy is an efficacy therapeutic procedure. On the one hand, according to near the complete penetrance of the disease and its onset in the early years of life, it is required to accelerate the protection of at-risk children with relative affected by MTC and on the other hand, there are several obstructions to MTC treatment including: 1) the proband’s refusal to disclose the RET mutation genetic testing results, 2) children’s vulnerability because of their inability to participate in the informed consent, and 3) the existence of conflict between physicians and children’s guardian. In this review article, the recommendations and ethical issues of MTC treatment in asymptomatic and at-risk children have been summarized.
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©2016 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Review
- Medullary thyroid carcinoma: a review on ethical considerations in treatment of children
- Original Articles
- Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 and macrophage migration inhibitory factor in children with type 1 diabetes
- Organ-specific autoimmunity in relation to clinical characteristics in children with long-lasting type 1 diabetes
- Seasonality of diagnosis of type 1 diabetes mellitus in the Netherlands (Young Dudes-2)
- Health-related quality of life in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus from Montenegro: relationship to metabolic control
- Relation of fetuin A levels with cardiac, subcutaneous lipid accumulation and insulin resistance parameters in Turkish obese children
- Prooxidant-antioxidant balance in patients with phenylketonuria and its correlation to biochemical and hematological parameters
- Serum vaspin concentrations in girls with anorexia nervosa
- Effect of intramuscular cholecalciferol megadose in children with nutritional rickets
- Focus on BMI and subclinical hypothyroidism in adolescent girls first examined for amenorrhea or oligomenorrhea. The emerging role of polycystic ovary syndrome
- Absence of a relationship between thyroid hormones and vitamin D levels
- Parathyroid hormone-ionized calcium dynamics over the first year of life
- Biochemical markers of bone turnover in children with clinical bone fragility
- Adipocytokines and bone metabolism markers in relation to bone mineral values in early pubertal boys with different physical activity
- Bone mineral density in young Chilean patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus
- Case Reports
- A case of mature teratoma with a falsely high serum estradiol value measured with an immunoassay
- Leigh syndrome associated with a novel mutation in the COX15 gene
- More than one way to skin a thyroid. Managing pediatric hypothyroidism with weekly intramuscular levothyroxine
- First case report of rare congenital adrenal insufficiency caused by mutations in the CYP11A1 gene in the Czech Republic
- Arg924X homozygous mutation in insulin receptor gene in a Tunisian patient with Donohue syndrome
- Corrigendum
- Corrigendum to: Exposure to sunshine early in life prevented development of type 1 diabetes in Danish boys
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Review
- Medullary thyroid carcinoma: a review on ethical considerations in treatment of children
- Original Articles
- Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 and macrophage migration inhibitory factor in children with type 1 diabetes
- Organ-specific autoimmunity in relation to clinical characteristics in children with long-lasting type 1 diabetes
- Seasonality of diagnosis of type 1 diabetes mellitus in the Netherlands (Young Dudes-2)
- Health-related quality of life in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus from Montenegro: relationship to metabolic control
- Relation of fetuin A levels with cardiac, subcutaneous lipid accumulation and insulin resistance parameters in Turkish obese children
- Prooxidant-antioxidant balance in patients with phenylketonuria and its correlation to biochemical and hematological parameters
- Serum vaspin concentrations in girls with anorexia nervosa
- Effect of intramuscular cholecalciferol megadose in children with nutritional rickets
- Focus on BMI and subclinical hypothyroidism in adolescent girls first examined for amenorrhea or oligomenorrhea. The emerging role of polycystic ovary syndrome
- Absence of a relationship between thyroid hormones and vitamin D levels
- Parathyroid hormone-ionized calcium dynamics over the first year of life
- Biochemical markers of bone turnover in children with clinical bone fragility
- Adipocytokines and bone metabolism markers in relation to bone mineral values in early pubertal boys with different physical activity
- Bone mineral density in young Chilean patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus
- Case Reports
- A case of mature teratoma with a falsely high serum estradiol value measured with an immunoassay
- Leigh syndrome associated with a novel mutation in the COX15 gene
- More than one way to skin a thyroid. Managing pediatric hypothyroidism with weekly intramuscular levothyroxine
- First case report of rare congenital adrenal insufficiency caused by mutations in the CYP11A1 gene in the Czech Republic
- Arg924X homozygous mutation in insulin receptor gene in a Tunisian patient with Donohue syndrome
- Corrigendum
- Corrigendum to: Exposure to sunshine early in life prevented development of type 1 diabetes in Danish boys