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Lateral Cervical Lymph Node Metastases from Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: Pattern of Nodal Metastases and Optimal Strategy for Neck Dissection

¹ Department of Otolaryngology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 388-1, Pungnap-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul 138-736, Republic of Korea
² Department of Pathology, Cancer Research Institute, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, 640 Daesa-Dong, Chung-Gu, Daejeon 301-040, Republic of Korea
³ Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Cancer Research Institute, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, 640 Daesa-Dong, Chung-Gu, Daejeon 301-040, Republic of Korea

Correspondence: Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Jong-Lyel Roh, MD; E-mail: rohjl{at}amc.ac.kr

Background: The pattern of lateral cervical metastases from papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) has been reported without a clear understanding of the distribution of central nodes at risk. The present study evaluated the pattern of central and lateral cervical metastases from PTC with respect to recently defined neck sublevels and subsites.

Methods: Between 2003 and 2006, 52 consecutive patients with lateral cervical metastases from previously untreated PTC underwent total thyroidectomy and therapeutic comprehensive neck dissection of the central and lateral compartments, including five bilateral neck dissections. Neck dissection specimens were separately obtained for analyzing lymph node involvement with respect to neck sublevels and subsites.

Results: For the lateral compartment, 75.9% of cases showed metastatic disease at level IV, 72.2% at IIa and III, 16.7% at IIb, 13.0% at Vai, 3.7% at Ib and Vb, and 0% at Vas. For the central compartment, 84.6% of cases showed metastatic disease at the ipsilateral paratracheal nodal site, 46.2% at the superior mediastinal, 30.8% at the pretracheal, and 8.9% at the contralateral paratracheal site. Forty-six of 57 lateral neck dissection samples (80.7%) showed multilevel disease, and skip lateral metastasis was found in five patients (9.6%). Level I and V involvements were always associated with multilevel disease.

Conclusions: Lateral cervical metastasis from PTC is commonly associated with multilevel disease and central nodal involvement. Neck dissection including ipsilateral central and lateral compartments may be the optimal treatment for these patients.

Key Words: Papillary thyroid carcinoma • Cervical metastasis • Neck dissection • Node metastatic pattern • Optimal treatment

This article has been cited by other articles:

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				J.-L. Roh, Y.-H. Yoon, and C. I. Park Chyle Leakage in Patients Undergoing Thyroidectomy Plus Central Neck Dissection for Differentiated Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Ann. Surg. Oncol., September 1, 2008; 15(9): 2576 - 2580. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]