Central lymph node dissection for non-incidental papillary thyroid microcarcinoma: 10 years’ experience                  WANG Zhuo-ying， SUN Tuan-qi， WU Yi， et al. Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC);Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
Corresponding author: GUAN Qing, E-mail: monique.gq@hotmail.com
Abstract    Objective    To assess the role of central lymph node dissection (CLND) in papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC). Methods    This study included 1048 consecutive PTMC patients who underwent CLND from 2000 to 2009. The data of the incidence of central compartment metastasis, the diagnostic accuracy through ultrasound and intraoperative inspection, the follow-up and the incidence of complication were collected and analyzed. Results    The incidence of central compartment metastasis was 38.5%. The status of central compartment metastasis was correlated with major clinicopathologic parameters such as sex, age, multifocal lesions, and the tumor size. The sensitivities, specificities and diagnostic accuracies were 32.2%, 77.1%, 59.8% for the combination of ultrasound and intraoperative inspection, respectively. With a median follow-up of 46.5 months, the metastasis rate was 1.9% (20).  Conclusion    Considering there was a relatively high rate of central lymph node metastasis, also the sensitivity of preoperative US or intraoperative inspection was not good enough to determine the surgical extent, we suggest that CLND needed to be done even in the low-risk PTMC patients.