Regional lymph node metastases in well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

The status of regional lymph node metastases was assessed in 171 patients with thyroid cancer who underwent a variety of thyroidectomy procedures with regional lymph node dissection at Kanazawa University, from January 1979 to March 1986. The rates of regional lymph node metastasis in minimal and ordinary thyroid cancer were 57% and 84% respectively. Since the rates of lymph node metastasis were high not only in the central cervical compartment but also in the lateral jugular compartment, modified radical neck dissection in the ipsilateral neck is at least recommended in patients with these thyroid cancers. Furthermore, high frequencies of bilateral regional lymph node metastases were found in patients with obviously widespread involvement of the bilateral lobes, with cancer located in the isthmus, with clinically detectable bilateral or contralateral jugular lymph node metastases and with histological involvement in the contralateral paratracheal lymph nodes. Bilateral modified radical neck dissection is recommended in these patients.