PROLONGED PROGRESSION-FREE SURVIVAL WITH PARTIAL DISEASE REGRESSION IN ADVANCED METASTATIC MEDULLARY THYROID CARCINOMA TREATED WITH VANDETANIB

Objective: Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC), derived from thyroidal parafollicular C-cells, is a difficult treatment problem when presenting with advanced and meta-static disease. The recent addition of targeted systemic medical therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors has shown great promise for disease control and prolonged survival for these patients. We present a case of a young woman with such advanced disease who has had a significant and prolonged response to treatment with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor vandetanib. We wish to alert clinicians to the use of such therapy in appropriate cases. Methods: A 22-year-old woman was referred to our medical center with MTC. Having already undergone total thyroidectomy followed by external beam radiotherapy of involved left neck lymph nodes, she presented to our institution with a significant paratracheal tumor burden and extensive pulmonary metastases. She was given systemic tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment with vandetanib. Results: The patient, suffering no ...