ReviewGland surgery2024
Diagnostic challenges in calcitonin negative medullary thyroid carcinoma: a systematic review of 101 cases.
Review in Gland surgery, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Beyond Tumor Diameter: Exploratory Cohort-Derived Calcitonin Secretory Categories and Invasive Pathology in Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2026Article
- New Neuroendocrine Markers PITX2, PHOX2B, and HAND2 Do Not Offer Diagnostic Utility in Fine-needle Aspiration Biopsies of Primary and Secondary Medullary Thyroid Carcinomas: A Retrospective Multi-institutional Study.Journal of clinical and translational pathology · 2026Article
- Circulating Biomarkers in Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma: Bridging Laboratory Complexities and Clinical Application Through Algorithm Design.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Calcitonin-negative medullary thyroid carcinoma (CNMTC), a rare form of MTC characterized by classic histopathology with normal serum calcitonin levels, presents a diagnostic challenge. This systematic review aims to summarize the clinical and pathological features of CNMTC and evaluate the utility of alternative biochemical markers. Methods: Eligibility criteria for this systematic review included patients with a confirmed histopathological diagnosis of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), normal preoperative serum calcitonin levels, or negative immunohistochemical (IHC) stain for calcitonin. A comprehensive electronic search strategy was employed on PubMed, Scopus, and Embase databases from January 1 Results: This systematic review consists of 32 studies with 101 patients (66% females, 33% males) with a mean age of 52.2 years. All patients had a preoperative serum calcitonin level below the upper reference limit. Out of 101 patients, only seven underwent the Pentagastrin Stimulation Test (PST), only two patients had elevated calcitonin levels after stimulation. A total of 59 patients were tested for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels, and the majority tested normal (n=51, 86.4%). A total of 57 patients (61.2%) were found to have positive IHC staining on operative specimens for calcitonin. No recurrence was reported in the majority of cases, only 10 patients (9.9%) experienced recurrence. Conclusions: Despite the rarity of CNMTC, it is crucial to maintain a high level of suspicion when evaluating thyroid nodules. Total thyroidectomy with central neck dissection remains as the primary treatment. A multimarker approach may improve the sensitivity and specificity of CNMTC diagnosis and surveillance, particularly when calcitonin and CEA levels are inconclusive.
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