Frozen biopsy of central compartment in papillary thyroid cancer: quantitative nodal analysis.

BACKGROUND Nodal metastasis in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) usually occurs in the central compartment of the ipsilateral neck and spreads laterally. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of frozen biopsy for quantitative nodal evaluation of central neck metastasis in PTC. METHODS In all, 252 patients with PTC underwent total thyroidectomy with bilateral central neck dissection (CND). All tissues from ipsilateral CND were examined by frozen biopsy. RESULTS Among them, 53% of patients had central neck metastasis. The sensitivity and specificity of frozen biopsy for central neck metastasis were 92% and 99%, respectively. The positive predictive value and the negative predictive value were 99% and 84%, respectively. The diagnostic accuracy for the exact number of metastatic nodes was 91% compared to permanent biopsy. CONCLUSIONS Frozen biopsy for quantitative analysis of central compartment is a useful tool for the precise evaluation of central lymphatic status intraoperatively with a high sensitivity and specificity.