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Updated: May 24, 2025
Transoral Robotic Total Thyroidectomy and Bilateral Central Regional Lymph Node Dissection for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma
Published on: September 15, 2023
Lobectomy for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma With Minimal Extrathyroidal Extension: Does the Site of Extension Matter?
Anner Moskovitz1,2, Nir Tsur2,3, Keren Kaminer2,4
1The Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Background:
There is limited data on the recurrence risk following lobectomy in patients with microscopic extrathyroidal extension (mETE) and the significance of the site of mETE.
Methods:
A retrospective study on patients treated with thyroid lobectomy between January 2012 and December 2023.
Results:
Sixty-seven patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and mETE were included. Two patients (4.66%) experienced disease recurrence during a mean follow-up of 50 months (IQR 18.8-70.3). Twenty-five patients (37.3%) had anterior extension, 28 (41.8%) posterior, and 14 (20.9%) unknown location. Tumors with posterior extension had a higher rate of tall-cell variant (23.1% vs. 12%) and fewer positive surgical margins (22.2% vs. 37.5%). Three non-disease-related deaths occurred during follow-up. No recurrences were noted in patients with anterior mETE.
Conclusion:
The recurrence risk after hemithyroidectomy for PTC with mETE was 4.66%, consistent with low-risk disease. Posterior mETE demonstrated a trend of a more aggressive variant and a higher recurrence rate.
