Background: Papillary thyroid carcinoma frequently metastasizes to central and lateral neck lymph nodes, but metastasis to retropharyngeal lymph nodes (RPLN) is rare.
Patients and methods: We retrospectively reviewed 16 patients with RPLN metastasis of PTC who underwent therapeutic dissection of RPLN metastases.
Results: Among 16 patients, 7 patients underwent RPLN dissection with initial surgery and remaining 9 patients as salvage surgery. RPLN metastasis arose unilaterally in 15 patients and bilaterally in 1 patient. Eleven patients showed temporal dysphagia and four patients showed temporal vocal cord paralysis, but both symptoms eventually recovered in all cases. Two patients with salvage RPLN dissection died of distant metastasis and six patients survived with distant metastasis and/or persistent loco-regional disease. Other eight patients have been alive without disease.
Conclusions: Although transcervical approach for RPLN metastases of PTC provided acceptable functional and oncological outcomes, half of the patients with RPLN metastasis have had distant metastasis and/or persistent locoregional disease. Indications of surgery for patients with RPLN metastasis need to be performed carefully in consideration of patients' prognosis and quality of life.
Keywords: Functional and oncological outcome; Metastasis; Retropharyngeal node; Surgery; Thyroid carcinoma.