[Retrospective analysis of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma cases treated between 2001 and 2010 in the Hungarian National Institute of Oncology].

The standard treatment of papillary microcarcinomas (mPTC; ≤1 cm) regardless of their size, was similar to the advanced ones till the recent past: immediate surgery ± radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy. However, the American Thyroid Association (ATA) 2015 guidelines accept the active surveillance in selected cases. We performed a retrospective analysis on the clinical data of 103 patients with PTmC in a single (62.1%) or multiple nodes (37.9%), treated with immediate surgery followed in most cases by postoperative RAI between 2001 and 2010. N stage of the neck was pN0 in 81, and pN+ in 22 patients. Survival probability was significantly related to age (p<0.001), TSH level (p=0.0347), N stage (p=0.0402) and need for neck dissection (p=0.0045). Overall survival at 5, 10, and 15 years was 95%, 89%, and 86%, while disease-specific mortality at 5 and 10 years was 3% and 5%, respectively. Our data show that immediate radical surgery with or without postoperative RAI yielded long-term survival similar to those published. Nevertheless, progression affecting mostly older men was not prevented by immediate surgery. Our findings do not contradict the acceptability of active surveillance recommended by the 2015 ATA Guidelines.