[The surgical treatment of cervical lymph node metastases in differentiated thyroid carcinoma]

Over the period 1980 through 1994, a total of 297 patients presenting histological evidence of differentiated carcinoma of the thyroid gland are studied. In thirty-two of them (10.8 per cent) palpable metastases in the lymph nodes are found at the time of making the diagnosis. A higher frequency of palpable lymph nodes is established in younger patients with histological diagnosis papillary carcinoma (62.5 per cent). In the 32 patients with palpable metastases in the lymph nodes, discovered during diagnosing of the disease, lymph node dissection is undertaken. The obtained results show that the modified cervical dissection yields favourable results, and at the same time preserves intact the neck structure.