OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prognosis of papillary microcarcinoma (PMC) of the thyroid. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: Teaching hospital, Italy. SUBJECTS: 89 patients treated for papillary micro carcinoma of thyroid and followed up for at least 6 years (range 6-12). INTERVENTION: Total thyroidectomy and, for lymph node metastases, laterocervical lymphadenectomy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sex distribution, mode of onset of disease, diameter of tumour, histological type, histological stage, presence of lymph node metastases at the time of operation and type of operation. RESULTS: When the disease presented with laterocervical lymph nodes it was histologically more aggressive and included follicular (n = 3) and sclerosing (n = 4) types. CONCLUSION: Papillary microcarcinoma has an excellent prognosis if managed initially by total thyroidectomy.
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Falvo et al. (2003) studied this question.