Thyroid cancers. II. Medullary, anaplastic, lymphoma, sarcoma, squamous cell.

Medullary thyroid carcinoma in both sporadic and familial forms is a curable disease if detected early and treated by the proper surgery. The advent of genetic screening for the RET protooncogene portends great promise in the earlier diagnosis and treatment of familial forms of MTC. New chemotherapy protocols have produced some tumor regression in patients with metastatic MTC. Improved use of Adriamycin and hyper-fractionated radiotherapy combined with debulking procedures has prolonged survival in anaplastic thyroid cancer. Thyroid gland lymphoma, if diagnosed early and treated by combined chemoradiotherapy, carries a good prognosis for survival. The best treatment for thyroid sarcomas and SCC of the thyroid is early diagnosis and aggressive surgery combined with radiotherapy.