BACKGROUND & AIM: The most prevalent primary malignancy developing from thyroid follicular cells is papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). The objective of this research was to assess the positive indicators of central lymph node micrometastasis in individuals with papillary thyroid carcinoma. METHODS:The study's methods were cross-sectional. The research cohort consisted of all known PTC patients who had a total thyroidectomy and middle neck lymph node dissection based on the most current criteria. A permanent smear was used to confirm that the central lymph nodes had been affected after surgery. The data were examined using SPSS version 26 software. For statistical significance, the p-value was required to be equal to or less than 0.05 RESULTS: Age, gender, multinodularity, prior history of other thyroid conditions, involvement of both thyroid lobes, tumor grade with involvement of the central lymph nodes, and family history of PTC or thyroid illness were not significantly linked (p-value>0.05). Significant correlations were found between the tumor's pathology and size when the central lymph nodes were involved (p-value<0.05).Furthermore, logistic multivariate regression analysis demonstrated a significant association between the prevalence of central lymph node involvement and female gender, multinodular, and tumor size (p-value< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS:In patients with papillary thyroid cancer, female gender, multinodularity, and higher tumor size may be indicators of micrometastasis in the central lymph nodes.

Micrometastasis, Cancer, Thyroid