Related Experiment Video For lymph node dissection
Updated: Apr 18, 2026

Transoral Robotic Total Thyroidectomy and Bilateral Central Regional Lymph Node Dissection for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma
Published on: September 15, 2023
Frequency and pattern of central lymph node metastasis in papillary carcinoma of the thyroid isthmus
Chang Myeon Song1, Dong Won Lee1, Yong Bae Ji1
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.
Background:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the frequency and pattern of central lymph node metastasis in isthmic papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).
Methods:
We compared the clinical and pathological data of 45 patients with a single isthmic PTC and 149 patients with a single PTC located in the unilateral thyroid lobe, all of whom underwent total thyroidectomy and bilateral central neck dissection.
Results:
The rates of clinical, pathologic, and occult central lymph node metastasis were higher in the isthmus group than the non-isthmus group. Central lymph node metastasis in the pretracheal and bilateral paratracheal lymph nodes was more frequent in the isthmic PTC group than in the non-isthmus group. On multivariate analysis, isthmic location of the tumor was an independent risk factor for central lymph node metastasis.
Conclusion:
Complete bilateral central neck dissection should be considered for isthmic PTC because of the high rate of bilateral central lymph node metastasis, especially to pretracheal and bilateral paratracheal lymph nodes. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: E412-E416, 2016.
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