Table 3.

The immunohistochemistry results of four groups.

	CDK9 expression
	Low		High
	0	1+	2+	3+	P
BTD (n = 93)	55	17	10	11	<.001 ∗
Total PTC (n = 192)	5	24	81	82
PTC with DLN metastasis (n = 37)	0	1	13	23	.020 †
PTC without DLN metastasis (n = 155)	5	22	69	59

^∗P: Comparison of patients with high CDK9 expression in BTD group and total PTC group.

^†P: Comparison High CDK9 expression in PTC with DLN metastasis and PTC without DLN metastasis.

0 staining and 1+ staining was defined as low expression, while 2+ staining and 3+ staining was defined as high expression.

BTD = Benign thyroid disease.