Thyroid carcinoma: diagnostic and therapeutic approach; genetic background (review).

This paper reviews the state-of-the-art on the management of thyroid cancer in humans, including the following thyroid carcinomas: papillary, follicular, poorly differentiated (insular), undifferentiated (anaplastic), and medullary (sporadic and inherited forms). Also metastatic (secondary) neoplasms of the thyroid gland have been approached. The rules of treatment (surgical, with use of I and suppressive therapy with L-thyroxine) of particular types of thyroid cancers have been presented – both descriptively and by schemes. Furthermore, the role of genetic background in the pathogenesis of thyroid neoplasms has carefully been reviewed for papillary, follicular and medullary carcinoma. The paper constitutes a compendium of current views with respect to cytological and histopathological diagnostics of thyroid cancers.