Pre-Operative Calcitonin and CEA Values May Predict the Extent of Metastases to the Lateral Neck Lymph Nodes in Patients with Medullary Thyroid Cancer

: In medullary thyroid cancer (MTC), lymph node metastases are often present at diagnosis and the extent of surgery is usually based upon pre-operative calcitonin and CEA levels as well as ultrasound findings. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of pre-operative calcitonin and CEA levels as predictive markers of the burden of lymph node metastases at diagnosis.