Preoperative neck ultrasonographic mapping for persistent/recurrent papillary thyroid cancer.

Surgical resection of persistent/recurrent (P/R) papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), when localized to the neck, is generally recommended; however, its impact on the course of the disease is not clear. We introduced a new technique in the form of preoperative neck ultrasonographic mapping (US-M) to improve the outcome of the surgical resection of P/R PTC. A total of 19 patients had undergone regional (central, lateral, or both) neck dissection before introducing the current technique (group 1, or G1), and 26 patients (group 2, or G2) had limited lymph node resection guided by US-M with findings accurately plotted on a standard diagram.