Endocrine Abstracts

Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC)is a very polymorphic tumour, it remains difficult to diagnose, especially in cytology. The MTC is characterized by a polymotphic cell population, the amyloid stroma is found in 43 to 81% of cases. In this retro and prospective study carried out over 5 years, we included 45 lesions (8 nodules, 35 lymph nodes and 2 cervical masses) these lesions were punctured and the cytological results were compared with the definitive histology. On cytology, 13 lesions (29%) were benign, 14 lesions (31%) were malignant and 18 lesions (40%) were MTCs. After surgery, the definitive histology confirms the MTC in 32 lesions (5 nodules, 25 lymph nodes and 2 cervical masses). For the remaining 13 lesions, 9 were true negatives and 4 were follicular carcinomas of the thyroid. Finally, fine needle aspiration biopsy has a sensitivity of 53.12% and a specificity of 92.3% for the diagnosis of MTC. It is a good diagnostic tool for follicular carcinoma but less so for the diagnosis of MTC.