Role of ultrasonographic features and quantified BRAFV600E mutation in lymph node metastasis in Chinese patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma.

The association between cervical lymph node metastasis (LNM) and ultrasonographic features as well as BRAF mutations in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) remained controversial. This study investigated the association between LNM and ultrasonographic features as well as BRAF mutation in Chinese patients with PTC. A total of 280 patients with PTC in China were included in this study. 108 had cervical lymph node metastasis, while 172 had not. Younger age (<45years) and several ultrasonographic features were significantly associated with cervical LNM (Ps < 0.05). The BRAF mutation was detected in 81.0% of patients with PTC (226/280). The status of BRAF mutation was not associated with cervical LNM. However, Ct values by PCR and intensity of reactions by immunohistochemistry (IHC) for BRAF expression had shown significant difference between group with and without LNM. Furthermore, an increased proportion of LNM was also found with the incremental intensity of IHC for BRAF expression from weak to strong reaction after adjusted potential confounders. Further studies are required to verify this association and explore the intrinsic mechanism.