Esophageal recurrence of medullary thyroid carcinoma

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) metastasizes to the regional lymph nodes and to the lungs, liver and bones. Only one case of recurrence of MTC involving the upper gastrointestinal tract has been reported so far. We describe the case of a 38-year-old woman with MTC, who developed an upper esophageal submucosal recurrence after two previous local recurrences treated surgically and one ethanol injection. After resection of the right lateral esophageal wall, calcitonin dropped by 60% and showed a doubling time >1 year. We cannot rule out the role of deep ethanol injection in the involvement of the cervical esophagus wall.