MH Based on last year's estimates from the American Cancer Society, approximately 44,670 new cases of thyroid cancer were diagnosed in the United States. Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) comprises approximately 4% of all thyroid cancers, which accounted for approximately 1,340 cases in 2010. MTC is different from other thyroid cancers because it arises from the C cells of the thyroid and not the follicular epithelium. This type of cancer has no hormonal interaction with the thyroid follicular cells. Because of the different cell line that MTC originates from, it is not treated in the same way one would treat differentiated thyroid cancer, which encompasses papillary, follicular, and Hiirthle cell carcinomas. Differentiated thyroid cancer is typically treated with surgery followed by radioactive iodine and thyroid hormone-suppressive therapy. However, MTC is not responsive to radioactive iodine or thyroid hor-mone-suppressive therapy.
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