Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2009 Aug;52(8):679-682. 10.3342/kjorl-hns.2009.52.8.679.

Clinical Characteristics of Thyroid Micropapillary Carcinoma

• Lee JK
• Choi JU
• Oh SE
• Lee DW
• Cho SW
• Lim SC
• Shin MH

• KMID: 2277084
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3342/kjorl-hns.2009.52.8.679

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Thyroid micropapillary carcinoma (equal or less than 10 mm at great dimension) is now reported with increasing incidence due to fine needle aspiration under high-resolution ultrasonography. The extent of thyroidectomy and lymph node dissection has been an issue of controversy. The purpose of this study was to analyze clinical characteristics of thyroid micropapillary carcinoma with total thyroidectomy and preventive central neck dissection.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
For suspicious thyroid micropapillary carcinoma, total thyroidectomy and preventive central neck dissection was performed in 63 patients (18 male, 45 female, mean ages of 59 years) between November 2004 and September 2008. They were suspected to have micropapillary carcinoma by fine needle aspiration and diagnosed with micropapillary carcinoma postoperatively.
RESULTS
The mean tumor size was 6 mm. Twenty-one patients (33.3%) had multifocal diseases and 19 patients (30.2%) had extrathyroid extension. Lymph node metastases were found in 20 patients (31.7%) on central neck and 7 patients (11.1%) on lateral neck. There were no relations between multifocal disease or extrathyroid lesion and lymph node metastases (p> 0.05). There was no significance of variables according to tumor size of 5 mm (p> 0.05). There was a significant relation between central and lateral lymph node metastasis (p< 0.05).
CONCLUSION
These data can be used for future studies for necessity or unnecessity of total thyroidectomy and/or preventive central neck dissection for thyroid micropapillary carcinoma. The possibility of coexistence of central and lateral neck metastasis should be considered.

Keyword

Thyroid neoplasms; Papillary carcinoma

MeSH Terms

Biopsy, Fine-Needle
Carcinoma, Papillary
Female
Humans
Incidence
Lymph Node Excision
Lymph Nodes
Male
Neck
Neck Dissection
Neoplasm Metastasis
Thyroid Gland
Thyroid Neoplasms
Thyroidectomy