Bilateral cervical lymph node metastases in well-differentiated thyroid cancer
M. Noguchi, T. Kumaki, T. Taniya and I. Miyazaki
Operation Center, Kanazawa University Hospital, Japan.
We analyzed the regional lymph node metastases of 98 patients with thyroid
cancer who underwent bilateral modified neck dissection. Bilateral jugular
lymph node metastases were frequent in patients with papillary carcinoma of
the thyroid, especially in those patients with obvious carcinoma in both
lobes of the gland, cancer arising in the isthmus, clinically detectable
bilateral lymphadenopathy, and recurrent thyroid cancer. In patients whose
cancer was clinically confined to one lobe, and where there were no
obviously enlarged contralateral lymph nodes, the occurrence of
contralateral jugular lymph node metastasis was significantly correlated
with the contralateral paratracheal lymph node metastasis. The bilateral
lymphadenectomy appears to be appropriate in these instances.
