Metastatic cervical nodes in papillary carcinoma of the thyroid: ultrasound and histological correlation.

The ultrasound appearances and histological correlation of metastatic cervical lymph nodes in 20 patients with papillary carcinoma of the thyroid are presented. The majority of the malignant nodes were homogeneous (81.2%), hyperechoic (87.5%) compared to adjacent sternomastoid muscle and 68.7% showed peripheral punctate calcification on US and histology. Histology revealed that the peripheral echogenic foci seen within the nodes on US correlated with psammoma bodies which are characteristic for papillary carcinomas, highlighting the importance of recognizing peripheral punctate calcification in the cervical nodes as a useful sign for the diagnosis of metastatic papillary carcinoma of the thyroid.