Medullary thyroid carcinoma with the first complaint of serum CEA elevated：a report of 6 cases HUA Bin , WEI Jun-min. Department of General Surgery , Beijing Hospital, Beijing 100730,China Corresponding author: WEI Jun-min, E-mail:weijunmin@ 263.net Abstract Objective To study the experiences in diagnosis and treatment of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) with the first complaint of serum CEA elevated. Methods The clinical data of 6 MTC patients with the first complaint of serum CEA elevated treated from January 2002 to June 2008 at Beijing Hospital was reviewed retrospectively. Results Six patients were found serum CEA elevated in regular physical examination. After precluding the most common diseases, it found all of them had thyroid nodules. Then they underwent thyroidectomy with or without modified neck dissection, and they have been all alive by now without carcinoma recurrence. Conclusion Serum CEA elevated is one of the relatively frequent symptoms in MCT patients. Surgeons should consider it in the differential diagnosis.