The total number of prelaryngeal and pretracheal lymph node metastases: is it a reliable predictor of contralateral central lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid carcinoma?

Occult metastasis is highly prevalent in the ipsilateral central neck of patients with PTC >1.0 cm, and the total number of prelaryngeal and pretracheal LNs metastases may be a useful indicator to predict contralateral CLN metastasis in patients with unifocal PTC.