Clinicopathological predictors of occult lateral neck lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid cancer: A meta-analysis.

Abstract

This meta-analysis aimed to identify the clinicopathological factors that could predict the risk of occult lateral neck lymph node metastasis (OLLNM) in N0/N1a papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). A literature search of PubMed, Web of Science, OvidSP, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases was performed using relevant keywords. Specific odds ratios and confidence intervals were calculated. The final analysis included 15 studies with a total of 5342 patients. OLLNM was found to be significantly associated with some clinicopathological features, including age <45 years, male sex, extrathyroidal extension, tumor location in the upper pole, tumor size >10 mm, positive central lymph node metastasis, number of central lymph node metastasis ≥3, and vascular invasion. Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology or FNA-Tg test might be an appropriate and reasonable intervention in the patients with N0/N1a PTC with an increased risk of OLLNM.