Objective: To ascertain whether modified radical neck dissection offers a survival advantage for some subsets of patients with papillary cancer of the thyroid.
Design: A retrospective cohort study of 2966 patients curatively treated at the Noguchi Thyroid Clinic and Hospital Foundation, Oita, Japan, between 1946 and 1991.
Setting: A center for the treatment of thyroid disease, where about 1400 thyroid operations are performed per year.
Patients: Between 1946 and 1991, patients with papillary cancer whose primary tumor was 1 cm or larger and who were curatively treated were studied. Of the 2859 patients, 72.1% underwent modified radical neck dissection, 8.5% underwent partial node excision, and 19.4% underwent no node excision.
Results: A univariate analysis revealed a subset of patients who benefited from modified radical neck dissection. A multivariate analysis revealed that sex (P<.001), age at the time of the operation (P<.001), size of the primary tumor (P<.001), extrathyroidal invasion (P<.001), and the presence of nodal metastasis (P<.01) are significant risk factors.
Conclusion: Patients with nodal metastasis, patients in whom the primary tumor invades beyond the thyroid capsule, and women older than 60 years can benefit from modified radical neck dissection.