Ultrasonography for the Prediction of High-Volume Lymph Node Metastases in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: Should Surgeons Believe Ultrasound Results?

Background Lymph node metastasis (LNM) often occurs in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC); the efficacy of ultrasound for predicting high-volume lymph node metastases (LNMs) in patients with PTC remains unexplored. Methods The medical records of 2073 consecutive PTC patients were reviewed. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated to evaluate the efficacy of ultrasound. Risk factors for LNM/high-volume LNMs and lymph node involvement on ultrasound (usLNM) were identified by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results Of all the patients, 936 (45.2%) patients had LNMs, and 254 (12.3%) patients had high-volume LNMs. The sensitivity of ultrasound for detecting LNM/high-volume LNMs was 27.9% and 63.8%, respectively; the specificity was 93.1% and 90.3%, respectively. The NPV for ultrasound in detecting high-volume LNMs was 94.7%. In multivariate analysis, male sex (OR = 2.108, p 1.0 cm (OR = 2.304, p