Clinical Study of Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis in Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma

Purpose To study the clinical characteristics of cervical lymph node metastasis in the papillary microcarcinoma of the thyroid gland. Methods 27 cases of papillary microcarcinoma and 144 cases of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland were treated from May. 1998 to Dec. 2001. Their clinical characteristics of cervical lymph node metastasis were retrospectively analysed. Results The cervical lymph node metastasis in papillary microcarcinoma and papillary carcinoma were 12/23(52.2%) and 108/144(75.0%) respectively, and their positive rates of lymph node of neck dissection were 29. 7% and 37.8% respectively; In VI sites lymph node metastasis were 9/23 (39. 1%) and 43/58 (74.1%) and positive rates were 32.0% and58.4%; Lymph node metastasis in I-V sites were 11/23(47.8%) and 93/ 144 (64.6%), and positive rates were 15.2% and 58.4%. These factors were statistically significant. Conclusion Cervical lymph node metastasis in papillary microcarcinoma was lower than that in papillary carcinoma of thyroid gland, and that the jugular nodal chain involvement was seen more often than the tracheoesphageal nodes in papillary microcarcinoma. If a patient was diagnosed as papillary thyroid microcarcinoma definitely, he or she should be operated on with neck dissection.