Kim DH, Kim GJ, Kim GW, et al. - Given the necessity for careful consideration of prophylactic central compartment dissection to ensure that its benefits outweigh its risks in thyroid cancer, researchers herein conducted a meta-analysis investigating the utility of ipsilateral central lymph node metastasis (iCLNM) as a predictor of contralateral central lymph node metastasis (cCLNM) involvement in patients with PTC. They included 16 prospective or retrospective studies and extracted true positive, true negative, false positive, and false negative from each study. For predicting cCLNM, the diagnostic odds ratio of ipsilateral central lymph node metastasis (iCLNM) was 12.9237. The sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive values were 0.8925, 0.6884, and 0.9802, respectively. cCLNM was identified to exhibit strong correlations with clinicopathologic characteristics. In patients with thyroid cancer, they suggest the possible value of ipsilateral central lymph node pathology for predicting contralateral central compartment invasion. In addition, they noted clinicopathologic characteristics including male gender, younger age, multifocality, extrathyroidal extension, and tumor size to be associated with cCLNM in patients with unilateral thyroid cancer.