Peroperative diagnosis and treatment of metastases to the regional lymph nodes in papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland.

The management of two groups of patients with papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland (n = 165) was evaluated retrospectively. Total thyroidectomy was the standard procedure in both groups, but the peroperative diagnosis and treatment of metastases to the regional lymph nodes differed. In group 1 (n = 84), only clinically positive lymph nodes were resected, and if residual postoperative 131I uptake was found, an ablation dose of 131I was given. In group 2 (n = 81), all of the tissue in the tracheoesophageal groove was removed routinely at total thyroidectomy and frozen section was done of the lymph nodes lying along the internal jugular vein. If metastases were found, a modified radical dissection of the neck was performed on the affected side. The two patient groups were comparable with regard to risk factors--local tumor stage, age and sex. Almost twice as many patients were found to have metastases to the lymph nodes in group 2. There was no significant difference in the ten year over-all or recurrence free survival time between the two groups. In group 1, there were more recurrences on the explored side of the neck but fewer distant metastases; however, both findings were not significant. In group 2, significantly more instances of hypoparathyroidism and palsy of the accessory nerve were found (p less than 0.05). Thus, when a more extensive search was carried out, more metastases to the lymph node were discovered and treated, but this did not prevent recurrences in the neck nor did it improve survival time. This approach resulted in more postoperative morbidity. There seems to be no justification for prophylactic removal of regional lymph nodes in instances of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland, but modified radical neck dissection may be beneficial if clinically suspect regional lymph nodes are present in the lateral part of the neck.