Can medullary carcinoma be cured? What are the treatments for medullary carcinoma?

Can medullary carcinoma be cured? There are many types of cancer, and its incidence is relatively wide, and it can appear in any part of our body. Medullary carcinoma is prone to occur in women between the ages of 30 and 60. It is a common type of thyroid cancer. If it is not treated in time, the consequences will be disastrous. So, can medullary carcinoma be cured? What are the clinical manifestations?

Clinical manifestations of medullary thyroid cancer:

1. Unilateral or bilateral thyroid masses: SMTC often presents as a single thyroid tumor; hereditary MTC often presents as bilateral thyroid multicentric tumors;

2. Difficulty breathing and swallowing: caused by a large mass compressing the trachea and esophagus;

3. Lateral neck mass: This is an enlarged regional metastatic lymph node. Common metastatic sites include the central and lateral neck lymph nodes. In MTC patients where clinicians can touch the mass, the lymph node metastasis rate is above 75%;

4. Hoarseness: caused by tumor invading the recurrent laryngeal nerve;

5. Hand and foot convulsions are caused by calcitonin causing a decrease in blood calcium;

6. Carcinoid syndrome, such as facial flushing, palpitations, diarrhea, and weight loss: It is common in patients with extensive liver metastasis and is caused by various peptides and peptide hormones secreted by tumor cells;

7. Liver, lung, and bone metastasis: The tumor invades blood vessels and causes distant metastasis. Up to 15% of patients have distant metastasis, which is the main cause of death in MTC patients.

Medullary carcinoma cannot be completely cured with current medical technology, but as long as active treatment is carried out, the average 10-year survival rate is above 50-90%, so the chance of survival is still very high. Especially for patients with slow growth or decreased blood calcitonin levels, or patients with persistently elevated blood calcitonin but no imaging examination or clinical evidence of recurrence, the prognosis is better.