Multiple endocrine neoplasia, type II: a combined surgical and genetic approach to treatment.

A family with multiple endocrine neoplasia, type II living in southeastern Ontario is described. Twenty individuals are known to have had medullary carcinoma of the thyroid, pheochromocytoma or both, the diagnosis of multiple endocrine neoplasia. type II is strongly suspected in five other individuals in the earlier generations. In this family the diseases seems to be transmitted by an autosomal dominant gene. A screening program set up for the family in 1977 has in 2 years identified four asymptomatic individuals (three with medullary carcinoma of the thyroid and one with this carcinoma and a pheochromocytoma). The family background, clinical picture, treatment and some of the problems of the screening program are described.