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Lymphovascular Invasion is Associated With Lateral Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma
Author(s) -
Kim Jung Min,
Kim Tae Yong,
Kim Won Bae,
Gong Gyungyup,
Kim Seong Chul,
Hong Suck Joon,
Shong Young Kee
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1097/01.mlg.0000242118.79647.a9
Subject(s) - medicine , lymphovascular invasion , thyroid carcinoma , thyroidectomy , lymph node , metastasis , retrospective cohort study , cervical lymph nodes , multivariate analysis , oncology , thyroid , radiology , cancer
Objectives: The objective of this retrospective study to evaluate whether lymphovascular invasion (LVI) is associated with lateral cervical lymph node metastasis and tumor recurrence in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Methods: We evaluated the medical records of patients with PTC who had undergone total thyroidectomy and subsequent 131 I remnant ablation at Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea, from January 1997 thorough December 2000. Results: A total of 662 patients (585 women and 77 men; mean age, 44.8 years) with PTC were enrolled in the study. Of these patients, 33 were found to have LVI. We found a significant association between LVI and lateral cervical lymph node metastasis at the time of initial surgery ( P = .001). Multivariate analyses adjusting for clinicopathologic parameters known to predict recurrence such as age, gender, tumor size, extrathyroid extension, and multifocality also showed a significant association between LVI and lateral cervical lymph node metastasis. For the 633 patients without distant metastasis at the time of initial surgery, LVI was also significantly associated with tumor recurrence during the follow‐up period (median, 68 months; range, 3–108 months): 29% versus 13.6% for patients with and without LVI, respectively ( P = .048 by log‐rank test). However, this association was lost on multivariate analyses adjusting for conventional clinicopathologic predictors of recurrence. Conclusions: In patients with PTC, LVI is associated with lateral cervical lymph node metastasis and clinical recurrence.