9 May 2025 • A large-scale study analyzing 8,862 patients with unilateral papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) over 4 cm reveals that total thyroidectomy (TT) does not universally improve overall survival (OS) or cancer-specific survival (CSS) when compared to lobectomy (LT).

Key Findings:

• TT offered significant benefits in young, high-risk patients with advanced TNM stages (T4, N1, or M1 stage), improving OS (HR = 0.29) and CSS (HR = 0.35).
• However, older patients and low-risk individuals showed no survival advantage from TT.

The findings suggest that the decision for TT should consider patient age and disease stage, not just tumor size, challenging the one-size-fits-all approach for PTC management.

Source: AJS | Read Full Story