Abstract
Objectives: Papillary microcarcinoma of the thyroid was evaluated as to the effectiveness of diagnostic modalities, lymphatic spread pattern, and therapeutic decision according to tumor size. Material and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a clinicopathologic findings of 72 papillary microcarcinoma patients who were treated at the over 11 years between 1985 and 1995. The authors divided papillary microcarcinoma of the thyroid into two subgroups according to tumor size: $0{\leqq}5mm$ and $5<0{\leqq}10mm$. An analysis including age and gender distribution, diagnostic tools(thyroid sonogram, thyroid scan, thyroid function test, fine needle aspiration cytology, frozen section), pathological examination of lymphnode, and surgical procedures was carried out in each subgroups. Results: The carcinoma of smaller than 5mm were found in 32 patients, and of 6 -10mm were in 40 patients. The average age of patients was 45years and all of them were female. Cold nodules on thyroid scan were noticed in 53 patientss and normal findings were in 15 patients. Suspicious malignant lesions(fine calcification, solid mass, irregular margin) on thyroid sonography were detected in 23 patients and the sonography was more useful in detecting $0{\leqq}5mm$ small sized lesions than other diagnostic methods. FNAC were performed in 17 patients, and 7 patients were diagnosed as having thyroid papillary cancer. But diagnotic rate in $0{\leqq}5mm$ small sized lesions was very low(one of eights).Frozen section were performed in all patients, among these 15 patients were diagnosed as being benign diseases and false negative rates were higher in $0{\leqq}5mm$ small sized lesions than in $5<0{\leqq}10mm$ sized lesions(p-value<0.006). Only thyroidectomies were performed in 24 patients and thyroidectomy with node dissections in 48 patients. The lymphnode metastatic rates were much higher in multifocal lesions(61.5%) than in single lesion. The incidence of cervical lymphnode metastasis was 19.4% in $0{\leqq}5mm$ sized lesions and 47.9% in $5<0{\leqq}10mm$ sized lesions. Postoperative management were performed with TSH suppression therapy(T4, synthroid) in all patients and RI therapy in 29 patients. Conclusion: On the basis of our study, improved preoperative diagnostic tools for papillary microcarcinoma of the thyroid was helpful in the choice of surgical treatment. As a result of techninological progress(ultrasonography, FNAC), the pencentage of the discovery of papillary microcarcinoma has been increased. The thyroid ultrasonography was useful in detecting small sized lesions($0{\leqq}5mm$), but FNAC may not be beneficial in detecting small sized lesions($0{\leqq}5mm$). In the surgical procedure, thyroid lobectomy alone should be avoided because of the high rate of bilaterality and multifocality.