Relationship between ultrasonographic characteristics of thyroid papillary microcarcinoma and metastasis of the cervical lateral lymph node / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo probe into the ultrasonic(US) predictive value for metastasis of the cervical lateral lymph node(LNM) with the preoperative ultrasonic examination in thyroid papillary microcarcinoma (PTMC),then,to further evaluate the significance of the preoperative ultrasonic score (US) for predicting metastasis of the cervical lateral lymph node.Methods From May 2004 to May 2011,165 patients diagnosed as PTMC (the ultrasonic imaging of lymph node showed no lateral LNM) were retrospectively analyzed and the US and final pathological data from the cases were collected to determine the relevant factors and different scores.ResultsThere were significant differences(P ＜ 0.05 )among US characteristics of microcalcification,no well-defined margin,tumor located at the upper pole,the perimeter of the tumor contacted with the adjacent capsule of thyroid being ＞25 ％ and the presence of the cervical lateral lymph nodes metastasis in PTMC between the metastatic group and the non-metastatic group.The total scores of the ultrasonic ≥2.5 was the delimitation value,its sensitivity was 86.2％ and its specificity was 89.7％.ConclusionsThe ultrasonic score has definite value in the differential diagnosis for the metastasis of the cervical lateral node in the patients of no lateral LNM,when the ultrasonic score is larger than 2.5,the possibility of the cervical lateral lymph node metastasis should be noticed.