Association between the ultrasonographic characteristics and cervical lymph metastasis in papillary thyroid carcinoma

Objective To explore the correlation between the ultrasonographic characteristics and cervical lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Methods The clinical data of 320 PTC patients operated on from Oct 2014 to May 2016 were retrospectively reviewed.The correlation between age, sex, ultrasonographic characteristicsa and cervical lymph node metastasis was evaluated by multivariate analyses. Results Multivariate analysis showed that males, nodular size >1 cm, microcalcification, irregular nodule margin, multifocality were risk factors for cervical lymph node metastasis. ROC curve analysis demonstrated important significance, which was drawn according to thyroid imaging reporting and data system (TI-RADS) and nodular size , with the area under ROC curve being 0.792. Conclusion Males, nodular size >1 cm, microcalcification, irregular nodule margin, multifocality are important indexes predicting cervical lymph node metastasis in patients with PTC. Key words: Thyroid neoplasms; Carcinoma, papillary; Cervical lymph node metastasis