Surgical treatment of medullary thyroid carcinoma in a thirteen-year-old girl with MEN 2B.

: Patients with palpable medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) have lymph node metastases in 90% of cases. In most series such patients continue to have elevated serum calcitonin (CT) levels after surgery indicating residual tumor tissue. We attempted a microdissection technique for the treatment of MTC. "Micro" refers not to a small incision or a limited exploration but to a more safe operation associated with good lighting and magnification and minimal bleeding. This technique was used in a 13-year-old girl with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2B (MEN 2B). The prognosis for MTC in MEN 2B is worse than for sporadic MTC and the MTC of MEN 2A. Every possible effort should be made to remove all tumor tissue in MEN 2B patients with MTC. In this case the pathologist found bilateral MTC and metastases in eight of 129 lymph nodes removed. The preoperative stimulated CT levels, which were markedly elevated, decreased to near normal postoperatively.