Brief communication: central lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid carcinoma: a retrospective cohort study comparing people with and without HIV

Whether HIV infection alters central lymph node metastasis (CLNM) in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is unclear. This retrospective cohort compared CLNM between 35 patients with HIV and 88 patients without HIV who underwent thyroidectomy with central dissection at a tertiary infectious-disease hospital. CLNM rates were similar (40.0% vs. 47.7%, P = 0.548); HIV status was not independently associated with CLNM (adjusted odds ratio 0.60, 95% CI 0.23–1.58), whereas maximum tumor diameter was (adjusted odds ratio 1.90, P = 0.001). CLNM appears governed by tumor-intrinsic features rather than HIV status; findings are hypothesis-generating given limited power.