Abstract:Objective To evaluate the influencing factors of central lymph node（CLN） metastasis of unilateral papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) in cT1N0 stage to provide basis for preventive dissection（PCND）.Methods A total of 957 PTC patients with single focal and cT1N0 stage received primary surgical treatment and PCND in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2020 to December 2021 were enrolled. The relationship between clinical pathological features and CLN metastasis was retrospectively analyzed. Results Among 957 patients,383 (40.02%) had CLN metastasis. Univariate analysis showed that there were statistical differences in age, gerder, tumor location, maximum tumor diameter(MTD) between the metastasis group and the non-metastasis group (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that age<55 years, male patients, MTD>0.65 cm and tumor located in the lower pole of thyroid were the risk factors for CLN metastasis in PTC patients（P<0.05）. ROC showed that the AUC for predicting CLN metastasis was 0.666(95%CI: 0.631-0.700) when the maximum tumor diameter >0.65 cm.Conclusions PCND is recommended to the young male PTC patients with the tumor located in the lower pole of thyroid and MTD more than 0.65cm.