The role of procalcitonin in the follow-up of medullary thyroid cancer

Objective: Calcitonin (Ct) represents the most important biochemical marker of medullary thyroid cancer (MTC), but has certain limits. We analysed the performance of Procalcitonin (ProCt) in follow-up MTC patients.

Methods: in this monocentric and retrospective study we consecutively obtained ProCt and Ct values from all MTC patients that we visited during the period from April 2021 to May 2022. Patients were defined as having a structural evidence of disease (29/90, 32.2%) irrespective of Ct values or, in its absence, as not evident disease (NED) if Ct was ≤10 ng/L (47/90, 52.2%), or minimal residual disease, if Ct was >10 ng/L (14/90, 15.6%).

Results: Ct and ProCt values were highly correlated (r=0.883, P<0.01). Median ProCt values differed between NED, minimal residual disease and structural disease, being 0.04 ng/ml, 0.26 ng/ and 1.98 ng/ml, respectively (P<0.01). ProCt was undetectable (<0.04 ng/ml) in 40/47 (85.1%) of NED patients, in 3/14 (21.4%) patients with a minimal residual disease and in none of the patients with a structural disease (P<0.01). Among the 11 patients with detectable but ≤10 ng/L Ct and undetectable ProCt values, none had a structural disease. The most accurate cut-off of ProCt to distinguish between presence or absence of a structural disease was >0.12 ng/ml (P<0.01, AUC: 0.963), with the following sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value (NPV): 100%, 83.61%, 74.4% and 100.0%.

Conclusions: ProCt and Ct have a high correlation in MTC follow-up. ProCt may be useful as an adjunct to Ct especially for its NPV concerning structural disease.