Effectiveness of prophylactic central compartment neck dissection following Hemithyroidectomy in papillary thyroid cancer: a meta‐analysis.

Introduction Methods Results Conclusions In this study, we aimed to assess the effect of prophylactic central compartment neck dissection (pCCND) in conjunction with hemithyroidectomy (HT) for clinically low‐risk node‐negative (cN0) papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).A thorough literature search was performed utilizing PubMed and EMBASE for articles published until October 2023. Subsequently, a meta‐analysis was performed on studies involving patients with cN0 PTC, with postoperative locoregional recurrence (LRR) and survival data, treated with HT + pCCND or HT. The study was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42024560962).We included seven studies in this meta‐analysis, including 2132 patients who met the inclusion criteria: six retrospective cohort studies and one randomized controlled trial. The HT + pCCND group consisted of 1090 cases, and the HT group had 1042 cases. The LRR rates after HT with or without pCCND were similar (3.58% vs. 4.51%; odds ratio (OR) = 0.65; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.41–1.03). Five of the seven studies provided prognostic and survival data, particularly the log hazard ratio (log HR) of disease‐free survival (DFS) between the two groups. There was also no significant difference in terms of DFS between the HT + pCCND and HT groups (OR = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.42–1.07).There was no significant difference in LRR and DFS between the HT + pCCND and HT groups. pCCND did not demonstrate significant efficacy in improving oncological outcomes for low‐risk patients with cN0 PTC. Therefore, for patients with low‐risk cN0 PTC, thyroid surgeons should make reasonable and individualized decisions regarding the extent of surgical removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]