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Predicting the factors associated with central lymph node metastasis in clinical node-negative (cN0) papillary thyroid microcarcinoma

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the present study was to investigate the risk factors associated with central lymph node metastasis (CLNM) in papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC).

Methods

A total of 553 patients with PTMC confirmed by histological examination, who underwent thyroidectomy and central neck dissection (CND), were enrolled. The clinicopathological and ultrasonographic features from the patients were analyzed retrospectively.

Results

PTMC patient age, Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT), tumor location, extrathyroidal extension (ETE), microcalcification and higher E values were correlated with the incidence of CLNM. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, HT, tumor location, ETE and Emax were related to the extent of CLNM. Chi-squared automatic interaction detection (CHAID) classification tree model showed that patients with tumor in upper/lower third combined ETE had a high risk of CLNM. Furthermore, cN0 PTMC patients with age ≤ 45 years and ETE had more extensive CLNM.

Conclusion

Our observations could be helpful for the assessment of prognostic factors of PTMC patients with CLNM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Ultrasound, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, No. 150 Haping Road, Nangang District, Harbin, 150081, China

    Cui Zhang, Zhao Liu, Ling-ling Wang & Wen Cheng

  2. Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, Harbin, 150081, China

    Bao-jun Li

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Zhang, C., Li, Bj., Liu, Z. et al. Predicting the factors associated with central lymph node metastasis in clinical node-negative (cN0) papillary thyroid microcarcinoma. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 277, 1191–1198 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-020-05787-1

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