Value of Thyroid Color Doppler Ultrasound Characteristics in Evaluating Central Lymph Node Metastasis of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

DONG Qiong; PEI Xiaodong; LIU Junzhao; CUI Peipei

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1004-437X.2026.12.013

Abstract：Objective To analyze the clinical value of the characteristics of thyroid color Doppler ultrasound in central lymph node metastasis(CLNM)of papillary thyroid carcinoma(PTC).Methods From April 2019 to June 2024,60 PTC patients in Zhengzhou First People's Hospital were selected as the research objects,and all of them were examined by color Doppler ultrasound before operation,and the characteristics of color Doppler ultrasound images were collected.According to the surgical and pathological results,patients were divided into metastatic group(36 cases)and non-metastatic group(24 cases),and the difference variables were screened out by comparing the general data.Multivariate logistic regression and receiver operator characteristic(ROC)curve were used to analyze the clinical value of thyroid color Doppler ultrasound characteristics in PTC patients with CLNM.Results Pathological results showed that 60.00％(36/60)patients developed CLNM.There were significant differences in the diameter,echo,microcalcification,aspect ratio,capsule invasion and blood supply between metastatic group and non-metastatic group(P＜0.05).Logistic regression analysis showed that the diameter was more than 10 mm,there was encapsulated invasion and richer internal blood flow than peripheral blood freceiver operator characteristiclow were all risk factors for CLNM in PTC patients(P＜0.05),and the area under the curve(AUC)in predicting whether CLNM occurs in PTC patients was 0.771,0.826 and 0.813 respectively.Conclusion In color Doppler ultrasound images of PTC patients,the characteristics of tumor nodule diameter,capsule invasion and blood flow are particularly significant,which has certain clinical value in evaluating whether CLNM occurs in PTC patients.