Utility of sonography for identifying metastatic cervical adenopathy in children with differentiated thyroid carcinoma at presentation

Study demonstrates ultrasound achieves 81% accuracy in detecting metastatic cervical lymph nodes in pediatric thyroid carcinoma, with 90% positive predictive value. Critically, 47% of metastatic nodes were normal in size/shape, identifiable only by abnormal echogenicity and vascularity—emphasizing these features are essential diagnostic criteria in children.