Lobectomy Is Feasible for 1–4 cm Papillary Thyroid Carcinomas: A 10-Year Propensity Score Matched-Pair Analysis on Recurrence

Background: Current guidelines allow lobectomy as treatment for 1–4 cm papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs), as previous studies reported no clear survival advantages for total thyroidectomy (TT). However, data on recurrence based on surgical extent are limited. Methods: This study enrolled 2345 patients with 1–4 cm PTC. Those with lateral cervical lymph node metastasis or initial distant metastasis were excluded. Disease-free survival (DFS) was compared after 1:1 propensity score matching by age, sex, tumor size, extrathyroidal extension, multifocality, and cervical lymph node metastasis. Results: Lobectomy was performed in 383 (16.3%) and TT in 1962 (83.7%) patients. In the matched-pair analysis (381 patients in each group), no significant difference in DFS was observed during the median follow-up of 9.8 years (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.35 [confidence interval (CI) 0.40–1.36], p = 0.33). When stratified by tumor size, DFS did not differ between the group with 1–2 cm tumors and that with 2–4 cm tumors (HR = 1...