Predictive Factors of Lymph Node Metastasis in Patients With Papillary Microcarcinoma of the Thyroid: Retrospective Analysis on 293 Cases

Papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) is defined as a tumor with a larger diameter ≤ 1 cm and is considered having an indolent course and an excellent prognosis. Nevertheless, the incidence of lymph node metastasis in PTMC is not negligible, reaching up to 65% in some series. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of lymph node metastasis in patients with PTMC and to evaluate predictive factors for lymph node metastasis. We included in this retrospective observational study patients who underwent thyroidectomy with pathological diagnosis of PTMC at our department from January 2003 to June 2019. Two hundred ninety-three patients were included in the study. The incidence of lymph node metastasis was 13.7%. Multivariate analysis revealed as independent risk factors for lymph node metastasis age