title: Surgical Management of Lymph Node Compartments in Papillary Thyroid Cancer.
abstract: Although papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) commonly metastasizes to cervical lymph nodes, prophylactic central neck dissection is controversial. The primary treatment for lymph node metastases is surgical resection. Patients diagnosed with PTC should be assessed preoperatively by cervical ultrasound to evaluate central and lateral neck lymph node compartments. Sonographically suspicious lymph nodes in the lateral neck should be biopsied for cytology or thyroglobulin levels. Any compartment (central or lateral) that has definitive proof of nodal metastases should be formally dissected at the time of thyroidectomy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrine Surgery, Department of Surgery, Northwestern University, 676 North Saint Clair Street, Suite 650, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. Electronic address: csturgeo@nm.org.
authors.forename: Cord
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sturgeon
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrine Surgery, Department of Surgery, Northwestern University, 676 North Saint Clair Street, Suite 650, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrine Surgery, Department of Surgery, Northwestern University, 676 North Saint Clair Street, Suite 650, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Dina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Elaraj
mesh_terms: D002277:Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology*; D037981:Neck Dissection / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D000077273:Thyroid Cancer, Papillary; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery
keywords: Central neck lymph node dissection; Lymph node dissection; Lymph node metastases; Papillary thyroid cancer; Recurrent thyroid cancer