Abstract:Objective To investigate the effect of central neck lymph node metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma patients on lateral neck region lymph node metastasis. Methods Ninety cases with papillary thyroid cancer in our hospital from April 2012 to February 2015 were divided into metastasis group (65 cases) and non-metastasis group (25 cases) according to the central neck lymph node metastasis. According to the number of cervical central metastatic lymph nodes, the metastasis group was further divided into 3 groups, i.e. group A (n = 1, 27 cases), group B (n = 2, 14 cases) and group C (n ≥ 3, 24 cases). The clinical data of metastasis group and non-metastasis group were compared. Lateral neck lymph node metastasis was recorded in the groups A, B and C. The sensitivity of central neck lymph node metastasis in prediction of lateral lymph node metastasis and the positive predictive value were calculated. Results The age, gender and metastasis rate of the patients in the metastasis group were significantly different from those of the non-metastasis group (P < 0.05), and the metastasis rate of the lateral lymph nodes in the metastasis group was significantly higher than that in the non-metastasis group (P < 0.05). In the 65 patients with central lymph node metastasis, 51 cases had lateral lymph node metastasis. The rate of lateral lymph node metastasis in the groups A. B and C was 51.85%, 71.43% and 83.33% respectively. The sensitivity of central neck lymph node metastasis in prediction of lateral lymph node metastasis was 96.08%, the positive predictive value was 75.38%. Conclusions In thyroid papillary carcinoma patients, the larger the number of central neck metastatic lymph node, the higher the risk of lateral neck lymph node metastasis. Operation of lateral lymph node dissection can be made according to central neck lymph node metastasis to prevent the lateral neck lymph node metastasis.