ArticleDiagnostic pathology2026
Clinical pathological characteristics and prognostic analysis of 140 cases of medullary thyroid carcinoma: validation of the international medullary thyroid carcinoma grading system in a chinese cohort.
Article in Diagnostic pathology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMedullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a rare neuroendocrine tumor with variable clinical behavior. The International Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma Grading System (IMTCGS) was developed to refine prognostic stratification, but its validation in Chinese populations remains limited. This study aimed to validate the IMTCGS and evaluate the prognostic significance of Ki-67, preoperative calcitonin levels, and molecular alterations in a Chinese MTC cohort.
methodsWe conducted a retrospective analysis of 140 MTC patients who underwent initial surgery at a single center between May 2017 and June 2025. Tumors were graded using the IMTCGS criteria. Associations among clinicopathological variables, Ki-67 index, preoperative calcitonin levels, molecular characteristics (assessed by next-generation sequencing), and progression-free survival (PFS) were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier analysis, Cox proportional hazards models, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.
resultsHigh-grade MTC (47.9%) and Ki-67 index ≥ 5% (46.4%) were significantly associated with larger tumor size, higher T/N stage, greater lymph node metastasis burden, and vascular invasion (all p < 0.05). Preoperative calcitonin levels showed strong correlations with both tumor diameter (ρ = 0.623, p < 0.001) and lymph node metastasis count (ρ = 0.530, p < 0.001). RET mutations were predominant (89.5%), with exon 16 being the most frequently involved. High-grade disease, Ki-67 ≥ 5%, tumor diameter ≥ 2 cm, ≥ 5 metastatic lymph nodes, and male sex were all associated with significantly shorter PFS (all p < 0.05). Among all predictors, lymph node metastasis count showed the highest discriminatory accuracy for PFS (AUC = 0.793).
conclusionsThe IMTCGS appears to effectively stratify tumor aggressiveness in Chinese MTC patients, with Ki-67 emerging as a critical component of risk assessment. Preoperative calcitonin level serves as a robust quantitative indicator of tumor burden, while the predominance of RET mutations reinforces their central pathogenic role. These findings support the clinical utility of integrating histological grading, proliferative markers, and biomarker profiling to enhance risk stratification and guide personalized management in MTC.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.