Metastasis rule and influence factors analysis of cervical central group lymph node in patients with papillary thyroid microcarcinoma

Objective To study the metastasis rule and influence factors of cervical central group (Ⅵ region) lymph node in patients with papillary thyroid microcarcinoma.Methods The clinical data of 195 patients with papillary thyroid microcarcinoma were analyzed retrospectively.All patients received bilateral thyroidectomy and bilateral cervical central group lymph node dissection.Results All patients died without surgery and hospitalization,the incidence of postoperative complications was 2.1％ (4/195).The total incidence of cervical central group lymph node metastasis was 35.4％ (69/195).Factors relating to cervical central group lymph node metastasis rate were:age (OR =0.924),gender (OR =0.213),the number of foci (OR =2.208) and the sum of the tumor diameters (OR =2.106).Conclusions Patients with papillary thyroid microcarcinoma may suffer from lymph node metastasis of the cervical central group,and lymph node metastasis rate increases significantly in young or male patients,and when the lesions are multifocal or the sum of the tumor diameter ＞ 0.5 cm. Key words: Thyroid neoplasms;  Carcinoma,papillary;  Lymphatic metastasis;  Neck dissection