Table 2.
Clinicopathological characteristics of patients with three major variants of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC)
| Characteristics | N (mean ± SD) | Present |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | ||
| Female | 800 | 79.4 |
| Male | 207 | 20.6 |
| Age (years) | 46 ± 9.5 | |
| ≥45 | 558 | 55.4 |
| <45 | 449 | 44.6 |
| Tumor size | 0.57 ± 0.18 | |
| >5 mm | 510 | 50.6 |
| ≤5 mm | 497 | 49.4 |
| Fibrosis | ||
| Absent | 15 | 1.5 |
| Present | 992 | 98.5 |
| Calcification | ||
| Absent | 688 | 68.3 |
| Present | 319 | 31.7 |
| Minimal ETE | ||
| Absent | 807 | 80.1 |
| Present | 200 | 19.9 |
| Vascular | 59 | 5.9 |
| Fat | 120 | 11.9 |
| Striated muscle | 8 | 0.8 |
| Nerve | 1 | 0.1 |
| Multiple MEE | 12 | 1.2 |
| Coexistence of HT | ||
| Absent | 742 | 73.7 |
| Present | 265 | 26.3 |
| Multifocality | ||
| Absent | 643 | 63.9 |
| Present | 364 | 36.1 |
| Lymph node metastases | ||
| Absent | 692 | 68.7 |
| Present | 315 | 31.3 |
| N-stage | ||
| N0 | 692 | 68.7 |
| N1a | 275 | 27.3 |
| N1b | 40 | 4.0 |
| Neck excision extent | ||
| Central | 953 | 94.6 |
| Central + lateral | 54 | 5.4 |
Minimal ETE minimal extrathyroidal extension, HT Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, LNM lymph node metastases