An innovative approach for predicting the metastasis of central lymph nodes in papillary thyroid microcarcinoma: A nomogram based on clinical and ultrasonographic characteristics.

Zhang, Ning; Wang, Zhenqian; Sun, Bo; Zhang, Long; Hu, Jianping; Jiang, Xiao; Xu, Xinyun; Chen, Han

Purpose: The current study aimed to examine risk factors in patients with papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) by building a nomogram model to evaluate the probability of central lymph node metastasis (CLNM). Materials and Method: A retrospective study was conducted on 775 patients with PTMC who had thyroid surgery, with a focus on examining the clinical characteristics and sonographic features of these individuals, among which 543 individuals were assigned to the training cohort and 232 individuals to the validation one. Both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to ascertain the risk factors linked to the occurrence of CLNM in individuals with PTMC. Results: Four variables encompassing clinical and ultrasound characteristics were identified to be potential risk factors. These variables include age (OR = 0.814, P = 0.001), gender (OR = 1.974, P = 0.005), tumor size (OR = 3.278, P = 0.001), and microcalcification (OR = 2.542, P = 0.001). All of the aforementioned components were employed to develop a nomogram for the prediction of the occurrence of CLNM in PTMC patients. These findings showed within the range of 0.11 to 0.47, the nomogram demonstrated a consistent ability to accurately forecast the occurrence of CLNM. Conclusions: Risk factors derived from clinical and sonographic features were determined and used to establish a nomogram, and the result demonstrated good performance of the CLNM-predicting nomogram, which may aid doctors in making better clinical decisions regarding the management of PTMC patients.

LYMPHATIC metastasis; PAPILLARY carcinoma; LOGISTIC regression analysis; DISEASE risk factors; NOMOGRAPHY (Mathematics); NECK dissection

Indian Journal of Cancer, 2024, Vol 61, Issue 3, p645

0019-509X

Academic Journal

10.4103/ijc.ijc_394_24