Mohamed H. El-Ghareeb, M.D., Tarek
A. Said, M.D, and Bahaa I. Mounir, M.D.
The Departments
of Surgery and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University
Med. J. Cairo Univ., Vol (67),
No (2), June 1999: 449-453
This study was conducted on 12 patients
with papillary thyroid carcinoma to determine the pattern of nodal metastases
and the necessary extent of lymphadenectomy. 3 patients underwent total
thyroidectomy and 9 patients underwent near-total thyroidectomy. All 12
patients underwent systematic lymphadenectomy of the cervicocentral
compartment; 8 patients underwent systematic lymphadenectomy of the homolateral
cervicolateral compartment in addition. As regards the primary tumour;
3/12 were T1, 4/12 were T2, 1/12 was T3 and 4/12 were T4. The cervicocentral
compartment was affected in 9/12 patients. Homolateral cervicolateral compartment
nodal metastases were present in 5/12 patients. Contralateral cervicocentral
compartment nodal metastases were present in 1/12 patients with a unilateral
multifocal primary tumour T4. Due to the common involvement of the cervicocentral
and the homolateral cervicolateral compartments with metastases in this
study, systematic lymphadenectomy of these compartments is recommended
in the treatment of papillary thyroid carcinoma in addition to the total
or near-total thyroidectomy.
