Objective To investigate the predictive value of integrating clinical pathological characteristics with genetic testing for occult lymph node metastasis(OLNM)in patients with papillary thyroid microcarcinoma(PTMC).Methods A total of 104 PTMC patients admitted to our hospital between May 2023 and May 2025 were included in the study.All patients showed no evidence of suspicious lymph node metastasis on preoperative imaging and underwent standard thyroidectomy with central lymph node dissection.Based on postoperative pathological con-firmation of central lymph node metastasis status,patients were classified into an OLNM-positive group(n=53)and an OLNM-negative group(n=51).Baseline characteristics,clinicopathological features,BRAFV600E gene mutation status,and TERT promoter mutation status were compared between the two groups.To identify factors independently associated with OLNM in PTMC patients,multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted.The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve(AUC)was utilized to assess the predictive performance of a combined model incorporating clinical,pathological,and genetic features for OLNM.Results Compared with the OLNM-negative group,the OLNM-positive group exhibited significantly higher preoperative thyroid-stimulating hormone(TSH)levels(P<0.05).Moreover,the OLNM-positive group demonstrated significantly greater proportions of tumors with diameter>0.5 cm,multifocality,microcalcifications,capsule invasion,extrathyroidal extension,T3 stage,BRAFV600E mutation,and TERT promoter mutation(all P<0.05).Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified preoperative TSH level,tumor diameter>0.5 cm,multifocal lesions,capsule invasion,extrathyroidal extension,T stage,BRAFV600E mutation,and TERT promoter mutation as independent risk factors for OLNM in patients with PTMC(all P<0.05).ROC curve analysis demonstrated that the integrated model combining clinical pathological features-including tumor diameter,number of lesions,microcalcification,capsule invasion,extrathy-roidal extension,and T stage-with genetic markers(BRAFV600E and TERT promoter mutations)exhibited the highest predictive performance,yielding an AUC of 0.940.This was significantly higher than the model based solely on clinical pathological features(AUC=0.736)or those relying exclusively on genetic testing(BRAFV600E:AUC=0.860;TERT:AUC=0.882),with all comparisons reaching statistical significance(P<0.05).Conclusions The integration of clinical pathological features with genetic testing significantly improved the predictive accuracy of OLNM in PTMC patients,surpassing models based solely on individual clinical pathological characteristics or genetic tests alone.This multimodal strategy offers a robust,evidence-based foundation for personalized surgical planning and enhances the precision of clinical decision-making in the management of PTMC.

Objective To investigate the predictive value of integrating clinical pathological characteristics with genetic testing for occult lymph node metastasis(OLNM)in patients with papillary thyroid microcarcinoma(PTMC).Methods A total of 104 PTMC patients admitted to our hospital between May 2023 and May 2025 were included in the study.All patients showed no evidence of suspicious lymph node metastasis on preoperative imaging and underwent standard thyroidectomy with central lymph node dissection.Based on postoperative pathological con-firmation of central lymph node metastasis status,patients were classified into an OLNM-positive group(n=53)and an OLNM-negative group(n=51).Baseline characteristics,clinicopathological features,BRAFV600E gene mutation status,and TERT promoter mutation status were compared between the two groups.To identify factors independently associated with OLNM in PTMC patients,multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted.The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve(AUC)was utilized to assess the predictive performance of a combined model incorporating clinical,pathological,and genetic features for OLNM.Results Compared with the OLNM-negative group,the OLNM-positive group exhibited significantly higher preoperative thyroid-stimulating hormone(TSH)levels(P<0.05).Moreover,the OLNM-positive group demonstrated significantly greater proportions of tumors with diameter>0.5 cm,multifocality,microcalcifications,capsule invasion,extrathyroidal extension,T3 stage,BRAFV600E mutation,and TERT promoter mutation(all P<0.05).Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified preoperative TSH level,tumor diameter>0.5 cm,multifocal lesions,capsule invasion,extrathyroidal extension,T stage,BRAFV600E mutation,and TERT promoter mutation as independent risk factors for OLNM in patients with PTMC(all P<0.05).ROC curve analysis demonstrated that the integrated model combining clinical pathological features-including tumor diameter,number of lesions,microcalcification,capsule invasion,extrathy-roidal extension,and T stage-with genetic markers(BRAFV600E and TERT promoter mutations)exhibited the highest predictive performance,yielding an AUC of 0.940.This was significantly higher than the model based solely on clinical pathological features(AUC=0.736)or those relying exclusively on genetic testing(BRAFV600E:AUC=0.860;TERT:AUC=0.882),with all comparisons reaching statistical significance(P<0.05).Conclusions The integration of clinical pathological features with genetic testing significantly improved the predictive accuracy of OLNM in PTMC patients,surpassing models based solely on individual clinical pathological characteristics or genetic tests alone.This multimodal strategy offers a robust,evidence-based foundation for personalized surgical planning and enhances the precision of clinical decision-making in the management of PTMC.

Objective:To explore the advantage of thyroid biopsy and evaluate detection in the application of thyroid cancer cervical lymph node dissection operation guidance, and provide evidence-based basis for guiding PTC patients whether to receive lateral dissection.Methods:The data of 258 patients with thyroid papillary carcinoma admitted to Department of Thyroid Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Chengde Medical College from April 2018 to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were admitted to the hospital for ultrasonic examination of cervical lymph nodes. According to the examination results, thyroid biopsy and puncture eluent were performed for patients with suspicious signs of metastasis. Patients with positive test results and with metastatic signs in initial ultrasonic examination received lymph node dissection in the cervical region. All patients underwent pathological examination postoperatively to diagnose the lymph node metastasis, and to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the detection of the patients with lateral clearance.The measurement data was expressed as mean±standard deviation ( Mean± SD), and the count data was expressed as n(%). The software of SPSS21.0 was used to conduct statistical analysis. Results:All 258 patients were successfully completed the diagnosis of various diagnostic methods. Combined with the postoperative pathological diagnosis results, the accuracy rate of ultrasonic diagnosis of lymph node metastasis was 74.42%, the accuracy rate of FNAC diagnosis was 82.95%, the accuracy rate of FNAC-Tg diagnosis was 87.98%, and the accuracy rate of FNAC-Tg diagnosis was 94.96%. The diagnostic sensitivity of ultrasound, FNAC, FNAC-Tg and FNAC-Tg was 73.60%, 81.72%, 91.01% and 95.83%, respectively, and the diagnostic specificity was 76.25%, 86.11%, 79.71% and 88.41%, respectively. In every four months for a time span since April 2018, the average length of hospital stay for patients with each span was (9.17±1.30), (8.39±1.21), (7.94±1.03), (7.46±0.94), (7.33±0.82) d, their neck area incidence of lymph node metastasis were 17.6%, 21.3%, 15.7%, 12.9%, 11.8%, side clear surgical patients accounted for 42.3%, 37.5%, 30.9%, 26.6%, 19.4%. The incidence of lymph node metastasis was 86.8%, 79.4%, 84.5%, 93.2% and 98.1%, respectively.Conclusion:FNAC-Tg method is used in the diagnosis of thyroid papillary carcinoma patients with high sensitivity and specificity of lymph node metastasis, which has certain value in guiding patients whether to perform lymph node dissection.