Extent of surgery did not affect recurrence during 7-years follow-up in papillary thyroid cancer sized 1-4 cm: Preliminary results.
OBJECTIVE
There is debate whether hemithyroidectomy is sufficient for patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) sized 1-4 cm. Therefore, we investigated whether hemithyroidectomy affects recurrence rate compared with thyroidectomy in patients with PTC sized 1-4 cm.


METHODS
Retrospective observational study.


METHODS
We included 147 patients with 1-4 cm PTC who underwent hemithyroidectomy between 2004 and 2008. They were matched with 298 patients who underwent thyroidectomy, comparing age, sex, tumour size, multiplicity, extrathyroidal extension status and lymph node (LN) metastasis status.


METHODS
Recurrence-free survival (RFS) was compared between hemithyroidectomy and thyroidectomy groups.


RESULTS
Median follow-up length was 7 years, during which there were nine (6.1%) and 17 (5.7%) recurrences in hemithyroidectomy and thyroidectomy groups, respectively. Recurrence-free survival in the hemithyroidectomy group was not different from that in the thyroidectomy group regardless of variant, multifocality, LN metastasis and radioactive iodine treatment. However, in subgroup analysis, hemithyroidectomy significantly increased the risk of recurrence in patients with contralateral nodules on the preoperative imaging.


CONCLUSIONS
Recurrence after hemithyroidectomy was not different from that after thyroidectomy during a median follow-up of 7 years. However, because thyroidectomy might be favoured in patients with contralateral nodules at preoperative evaluation, a thorough evaluation of the contralateral thyroid lobe is necessary.
Department of Internal Medicine, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, Seoul, Korea.|Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Min Joo
MJ
Kim
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Myung-Chul
MC
Lee
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Guk Haeng
GH
Lee
Department of Internal Medicine, Kangwon National University Hospital, Chuncheon-si, Korea.
Hoon Sung
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7202-7777
HS
Choi
Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Sun Wook
SW
Cho
Department of Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Su-Jin
SJ
Kim
Department of Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kyu Eun
KE
Lee
Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Young Joo
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3671-6364
YJ
Park
Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Do Joon
DJ
Park
D000328:Adult; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000077273:Thyroid Cancer, Papillary; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000379:methods*
papillary thyroid cancer; recurrence; thyroid neoplasm; thyroidectomy