Papillary thyroid carcinoma nodal surgery directed by a preoperative radiographic map utilizing CT scan and ultrasound in all primary and reoperative patients.

BACKGROUND: To study the diagnostic accuracy of physical examination (PE), ultrasonography (US), contrastenhanced computed tomography (CT) and in preoperative detection of macroscopic nodal metastasis in primary/recurrent papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) patients to determine if the routine addition of CT would be beneficial in accurate preoperative lymph-node surgery planning.

METHODS: In a tertiary center prospective study, 162 PTC patients underwent preoperative lymph-node evaluation by PE, US, and CT. Sensitivity, specificity, positive/negative predictive value (PPV/NPV) of each nodal detection technique were calculated in central/lateral cervical compartments. The gold standard for diagnostic-accuracy was surgical pathology.

RESULTS: In patients undergoing primary (Group I)/revision (Group II) surgical treatment for PTC, combined US/CT yielded significantly higher sensitivity for macroscopic lymph-node detection in both lateral and central neck, most marked in Group I-central compartment.

CONCLUSIONS: Combined preoperative US/CT provides reliable, objective, preoperative macroscopic nodal metastasis map to design rational nodal surgery in primary/revision PTC patients.