Risk factors for the lateral cervical lymph node metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma: A clinical study.

Currently, there is a lack of evidence-based risk factors for the lateral cervical lymph node metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Thus, the risk factors and recurrence rate of lateral cervical lymph node metastasis were investigated in the present study for patients with PTC who underwent initial radical surgery. The data of 274 patients with PTC who underwent initial radical surgery over a 10-year period from January, 2009 to December, 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. By applying univariate analysis, lymphovascular invasion, venous invasion, extrathyroidal infiltration, paratracheal lymph node metastasis and tumor size were designated as significant risk factors for lateral cervical lymph node metastasis. As regards multivariate analysis, paratracheal lymph node metastasis and tumor size were identified as independent risk factors. The recurrence rate was higher in patients presenting with lateral cervical lymph node metastasis, and the disease-free survival rate was significantly lower in the patient group presenting with lateral cervical lymph node metastasis. On the whole, the present study demonstrated that paratracheal lymph node metastasis and tumor size were independent risk factors for lateral cervical lymph node metastasis.