Should multifocality be an indication for prophylactic central neck dissection in papillary thyroid cancer?

Although multifocality is common in patients with papillary thyroid cancer, its effects on lymphatic metastasis and the necessity of central dissection in the presence of multifocality are still controversial. In our clinic, 258 patients who underwent thyroidectomy between 2015 and 2020 and were found to have papillary thyroid cancer in postoperative pathology reports were analyzed. The tumor characteristics contributing to central lymph node metastasis positivity were evaluated. Lymph node metastases were not significantly increased in the presence of multifocality. In cases with bilateral multifocal tumors, compared to cases with unilateral multifocal tumors, capsular invasion (p = 0.02), vascular invasion (p = 0.01) and cervical lymphatic metastasis (p = 0.004) were observed to increase. Bilateral multifocal tumors have more aggressive clinicopathological features than unilateral tumors. We found that the risk of central lymph node metastasis increased significantly in bilateral multifocal tumors in our study. Prophylactic central lymph node dissection may be considered in patients with no preoperative or intraoperative lymph node metastasis but thought to have a multifocal tumor.