Clinicopathological analysis of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma in isthmus

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) located in the isthmus. Methods The clinical and pathological data of 477 cases with PTMC diagnosed pathologically were retrospectively analyzed. Differences in PTMC between isthmus and lateral lobe were compared. Results Multivariate analysis showed that there were significantly difference in cancer capsule contact (30.5% vs. 10.4%, P=0.001) and lymph node metastasis (LNM) (42.7% vs. 18.7%, P<0.001) of PTMC between isthmus and lateral lobe. When compared with PTMC in lateral lobe, PTMC in isthmus was more prone to in ipsilateral central LNM (41.5% vs. 17.5%, P<0.001), ipsilateral lateral LNM (8.5% vs. 2.8%, P=0.022) and bilateral central LNM (12.2% vs. 0.2%, P<0.001), and contralateral lateral LNM (3.7% vs. 0, P<0.001). Conclusions PTMC in isthmus had capsular contact and LNM with higher proportion compared with PTMC in lateral lobe. It should suggest bilateral central lymph node dissection for PTMC located in isthmus.

Keywords

• |isthmus|papillary thyroid microcarcinoma|clinicopathological feature|lymph node metastasis|central group