Risk Factors for Recurrence to the Lymph Node in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Patients without Preoperatively Detectable Lateral Node Metastasis: Validity of Prophylactic Modified Radical Neck Dissection

摘要

Although papillary carcinoma usually shows mild characteristics, it metastasizes and shows recurrence to the lymph node in high incidences. Of the two representative lymph node compartments to which papillary carcinoma metastasizes, the central compartment can be routinely dissected via the surgical incision made for thyroidectomy. However, the routine application of prophylactic lateral node dissection (modified radical neck dissection [MND]) remains controversial. In this study, we investigated risk factors for lymph node recurrence of papillary carcinoma to determine the appropriate application of prophylactic MND.