Extent of Surgery for Medullary Thyroid Cancer and Prevalence of Occult Contralateral Foci

IMPORTANCE Standard treatment for patients with medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) consists of total thyroidectomy with central neck dissection, but the rationale for bilateral surgery in patients with unilateral disease on ultrasonography remains unclear. OBJECTIVE To determine the presence of occult contralateral disease (lesions not seen on preoperative ultrasonography) in patients with MTC as a rationale for total thyroidectomy. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This multi-institutional, retrospective cohort study was conducted from September 1998 to April 2022 in academic medical centers and included patients with MTC who underwent thyroidectomy with preoperative imaging. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary end point was the prevalence of sonographically occult foci of MTC in the contralateral lobe among patients with sporadic MTC. RESULTS The cohort comprised 176 patients with a median age at diagnosis of 55 years (range, 2-87 years), 69 (57.6%) of whom were female. Genetic testing was performed in 109 patients (61.9%), 48 (27.5%) of whom carried germline RET variants. Initial surgical management consisted of total thyroidectomy (161 [91.0%]), lobectomy followed by completion thyroidectomy (7 [4.0%]), and lobectomy alone (8 [4.5%]). Central and lateral neck dissections were performed as part of initial therapy for 146 patients (83.1%). In the entire cohort of 176 patients, 46 (26.0%) had contralateral foci disease and 9 (5.1%) had occult contralateral foci that were not identified on preoperative ultrasonography. Among 109 patients who underwent genetic testing, 38 (34.9%) had contralateral disease, 8 (7.3%) of whom had occult contralateral disease not seen on preoperative ultrasonography. Patients with sporadic MTC experienced a 95.7% reduction in the odds of having a focus of MTC in the contralateral lobe compared with patients with a germline RET variant (odds ratio, 0.043; 95% CI, 0.013-0.123). When adjusting for age, sex, tumor size, and lymph node involvement, the odds ratio of having contralateral MTC in patients with sporadic disease was 0.034 (95% CI, 0.007-0.116). Among patients who underwent lobectomy alone with postoperative calcitonin levels, 5 of 12 (41.7%) achieved undetectable calcitonin levels (<2.0 pg/mL; to convert to pmol/L, multiply by 0.292). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The results of this cohort study suggest that a staged approach involving initial thyroid lobectomy could be considered in patients with sporadic MTC and no contralateral ultrasonography findings, with no further surgery if calcitonin levels became undetectable. Further work using prospective randomized clinical trials to evaluate lobectomy as a biochemical cure in patients presenting with unilateral disease is warranted.