ABSTRACT
Pediatric thyroid cancer accounts for 1.5% of all cancers in children younger than 15 years (2 cases per million), but in adolescents 15–19 years of age, it accounts for 8% of all cancer. In children, papillary thyroid cancer papillary thyroid cancer often presents as multifocal, bilateral, and with regional nodal metastases compared to adults. The goal of levothyroxine therapy postoperatively is to replace thyroid hormone after thyroidectomy and to suppress thyroid cell growth by suppressing thyroid-stimulating hormone. Follicular carcinomas occur less frequently in children and adolescents, occurring with a more equal ratio between males and females compared with papillary thyroid carcinoma. In children, medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is generally part of an inherited syndrome—multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2. Unlike papillary or follicular carcinoma, MTC arises from para-follicular c-cells of the thyroid gland. In patients with MTC with locally advanced or disseminated disease, the goals of care and surgery should be more palliative with attention given to minimizing complications.
