An Update on Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) was first described by Jacquet close to a hundred years ago as thyroid carcinoma with amyloid. However, Hazard et al. narrated the conclusive histology as a solid non-follicular carcinoma with amyloid and named it the medullary thyroid carcinoma. However, the cellular origin of MTC was discovered by Williams, who established that cancer originated from the neural crest-derived parafollicular cells or the C-cells. These cells secrete calcitonin and occasionally other hormones like ACTH, which can present with ectopic Cushing’s syndrome [1, 2].