Delphian node metastasis in papillary thyroid cancer / 中华普通外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the clinical value of Delphian node (DN) metastasis in papillary thyroid cancer(PTC).Method In this study,86 cases of unilateral PTC proved by frozen pathology and initially undergoing surgical treatment were enrolled to evaluate Delphian nodes metastasis in its correlation with age,sex,tumor size,extra-thyroid extension and central and lateral compartment nodes.Results All patients underwent homolateral thyroidectomy plus contralateral subtotal thyroidectomy,central compartment and region Ⅲ and Ⅳ lymphadenectomy.There were no mortality and major morbidities.The following-up rate was 91.9％ (79/86).The mean following-up time was 45 months,and there was no tumor recurrence and metastasis.DN-postive was in close relation to extra-thyroid extension ( 60％ vs.24％ ;P =0.019)positive central compartment ( 80％ vs.27％ ;P ＜ 0.01 ) and lateral compartment lymph node metastasis (40％ vs.5％ ;P ＜ 0.01 ).DN-postive was also in close relation to the number of metastastic nodes ( average 7 vs.2 numbers of node;P =0.002 ) and the size of the node (2.1 cm vs.0.8 cm;P =0.02).Conclusions DN-postive has close relationship with extra-thyroid extension and central and lateral compartment nodes in PTC patients.