The presence of cancerous nodules in lymph nodes is a novel indicator of distant metastasis and poor survival in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma

Purpose Several characteristics of lymph node metastasis (LNM) as predictors of the risk of recurrence or death were examined in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). The presence of cancerous nodules as a characteristic of LNMs in PTC has not yet been reported. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of the cancerous nodules in the lymph node (CNLN) to determine the risk of distant metastasis and survival in patients with PTC.