Metastatic lymph node status in the central compartment of papillary thyroid carcinoma: A prognostic factor of locoregional recurrence.
The purpose of this study was to present our focus on the lymph node status in the central compartment and evaluate the relevant factors and disease recurrence.



Between January 2004 and December 2009, 1040 patients were diagnosed with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and underwent surgery.



The number of metastatic lymph nodes was a significant predictor for recurrence conferring a hazard ratio of 1.36 (confidence interval = 1.103-1.680; p = .004). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was calculated to determine the cutoff number of lymph nodes that predicted recurrence with the highest sensitivity and specificity (area under the ROC curve, 0.794; SE, 0.077; p = .001). The sensitivity/specificity of >3 metastatic lymph nodes for predicting recurrence was 63.6%/77.0%, respectively.



The number of metastatic lymph nodes in the central compartment was a statistical significant predictive factor associated with disease recurrence. Further study is required to confirm the relationship between the number of lymph nodes and disease recurrence. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: E1172-E1176, 2016.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Pundang Jesaeng Hospital, Deajin Medical Center, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Korea.
Young Min
YM
Park
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Pusan National University School of Medicine and Biomedical Research Institute, Busan, Korea.
Soo-Geun
SG
Wang
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Pusan National University School of Medicine and Biomedical Research Institute, Yangsan, Kyeongnam, Korea.
Jin-Choon
JC
Lee
Department of Pathology, Pusan National University School of Medicine and Biomedical Research Institute, Yangsan, Kyeongnam, Korea.
Dong Hoon
DH
Shin
Department of Internal Medicine, Pusan National University School of Medicine and Biomedical Research Institute, Busan, Korea.
In-Ju
IJ
Kim
Department of Internal Medicine, Pusan National University School of Medicine and Biomedical Research Institute, Yangsan, Kyeongnam, Korea.
Seok-Man
SM
Son
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Busan St. Marry's Medical Center, Busan, Korea.
Mijin
M
Mun
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Pusan National University School of Medicine and Biomedical Research Institute, Busan, Korea.
Byung-Joo
BJ
Lee
D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D037981:Neck Dissection; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D000077273:Thyroid Cancer, Papillary; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D013965:Thyroidectomy
lymph node status; lymphatic metastasis; papillary thyroid cancer; prognostic factor; recurrence