title: Lymph node metastasis from papillary-follicular thyroid carcinoma in young patients.
abstract: A total of 117 patients under 20 years of age with papillary and/or follicular thyroid cancer presented to the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center between 1949 and 1987. The most common presenting symptom was a cervical mass. Twenty percent of the patients had a history of prior irradiation. Sixty percent initially had palpable lymph nodes, while 26% who had clinically negative examinations had pathologically positive lymph nodes. Recurrence was highest in regional lymph nodes at 24%, with only a 4% recurrence rate at the primary site and a 3% recurrence rate at distant sites. There were no deaths due to the thyroid cancer. To maintain a low rate of recurrence, near-total thyroidectomy with neck dissection followed by iodine 131 treatment should be considered in these young patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Surgery, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston 77030.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Frankenthaler
authors.forename: R V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Sellin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cangir
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Goepfert
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008482:Mediastinum; D009333:Neck; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery