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Updated: Jun 18, 2026
Transoral Robotic Total Thyroidectomy and Bilateral Central Regional Lymph Node Dissection for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma
Published on: September 15, 2023
The long term outcome of papillary thyroid carcinoma patients without primary central lymph node dissection: expected
Yasemin Giles Senyurek1, Fatih Tunca, Harika Boztepe
1Department of General Surgery, Istanbul Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey. ygiles@superonline.com
Background:
We investigated central compartment recurrence (CCR) and mortality rate in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) who had no central lymph node dissection (CLND) at the time of primary operation.
Methods:
The medical records of 343 patients who underwent operations for PTC between January 1988 and December 2002 with a mean postoperative follow-up period of 9 +/- 4 years, were reviewed.
Results:
Twenty-two patients (6%) had locoregional recurrence. The lateral, central, or both compartments were involved in 16, 2, and 4 of 22 patients, respectively. The rate of CCR was 2% (6/343). Five (2%) patients died from PTC due to locoregional invasion (tracheal and esophageal invasion) in 3 patients and distant metastasis in 2 patients. Older age (>or=60), initial metastatic lateral cervical lymph nodes, size of primary tumor size >or=3 cm, microscopic extrathyroidial extension, and aggressive histologic subtypes (diffuse sclerosing, tall-cell, poorly differentiated) of PTC were risk factors for CCR and mortality (P = .0001).
Conclusion:
Initial CLND might be of value to prevent CCR and mortality in PTC patients with initial metastatic cervical lateral lymph nodes, older age (age >or=60), primary tumor size >or=3 cm, and agressive histopathologic features of PTC.
