Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Papillary thyroid cancer is one of the cancers with favorable prognosis, although the long-term recurrence rate in the paratracheal region is reported to be as high as 30%. The use of (131)I is considered to be a reliable treatment option for lymph node metastases in the paratracheal region. According to the majority of internationally accepted guidelines, it is not recommended to perform central node dissection (CND) routinely. Total thyroidectomy (TT) remains an adequate treatment for these patients. According to many studies, CND is associated with higher rates of hypoparathyroidism. However, CND improves staging. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study. We included 248 patients treated for papillary thyroid cancer during a 20-year period. Data were collected on patient (age, sex) and tumor (size, focality) characteristics, presence of metastases in the central neck compartment, incidence of postoperative hypoparathyroidism, and locoregional failure. We divided patients into two groups based on pathological analysis: those without positive lymph nodes (N0) and those with positive paratracheal lymph nodes (N1). We compared patient and tumor characteristics and risk of recurrence between the two groups. Results: There were 39.5% patients with central neck metastases in our series. In the central neck dissection specimen, 5.5 nodes were found on average. Hypoparathyroidism was found in 23.4% of patients and remained permanent in 3.2% of patients. Female and older patients had a lower chance of central compartment metastases, as did patients with smaller and unifocal tumors. Recurrence risk was doubled for the N1 group. All tested differences between the groups reached statistical significance. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: In our hands, CND was a safe and effective surgical procedure. It improved staging and postsurgical management. Efforts should be made to improve the preoperative work-up in order to more accurately identify high-risk patients.