## 4 Discussion
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Conditions**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Positive**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Hashimoto**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Advances**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Matilodalodal**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Basedov’s**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Primary**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Small**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Large**} \\ \cline{3-3} \cline{6-9}  & & **Lymph Nodes** & & & & & & & \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Positive lymph nodes} & Paraman Control & 1.00 & 0.09 & 0.070 & 0.076 & \(-\)0.055 & \(-\)0.070 & \(-\)0.037 \({}^{**}\) & 0.365 \({}^{**}\) \\ \cline{2-9}  & Sig. (\(\Delta\) Guided) & 0.560 & 0.044 & 0.363 & 0.514 & 0.406 & 0.000 & 0.000 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Hashimoto} & Paraman Control & 0.049 & 1 & \(-\)0.138 & \(-\)0.081 \({}^{**}\) & \(-\)0.104 & 0.075 & \(-\)0.039 & 0.007 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Admona} & Paraman Control & 0.070 & \(-\)0.138 & 1 & \(-\)0.005 & \(-\)0.131 & 0.075 & \(-\)0.084 & 0.094 \\ \cline{2-9}  & Sig. (\(\Delta\) Guided) & 0.044 & 0.300 & 0.516 & 0.119 & 0.369 & 0.316 & 0.200 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Multicellular spike} & Paraman Control & 0.078 & \(-\)0.082 \({}^{**}\) & \(-\)0.055 & 1 & \(-\)0.378 \({}^{**}\) & \(-\)0.086 & \(-\)0.089 & \(-\)0.080 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Benedov disease} & Paraman Control & \(-\)0.085 & \(-\)0.104 & \(-\)0.131 & \(-\)0.378 \({}^{**}\) & 1 & 0.087 & \(-\)0.022 & 0.026 \\ \cline{2-9}  & Sig. (\(\Delta\) Guided) & 0.514 & 0.217 & 0.119 & 0.000 & & 0.501 & 0.799 & 0.753 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Primary} & Paraman Control & \(-\)0.070 & 0.075 & 0.075 & \(-\)0.026 & 0.075 & 1 & 0.302 & \(-\)0.098 \\ \cline{2-9}  & Sig. (\(\Delta\) Guided) & 0.486 & 0.370 & 0.369 & 0.945 & 0.501 & & 0.224 & 0.214 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Small} & Paraman Control & \(-\)0.357 \({}^{**}\) & \(-\)0.039 & \(-\)0.084 & \(-\)0.009 & \(-\)0.022 & 0.102 & 1 & \(-\)0.981 \({}^{**}\) \\ \cline{2-9}  & Sig. (\(\Delta\) Guided) & 0.003 & 0.639 & 0.316 & 0.918 & 0.799 & 0.224 & 0.000 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Large} & Paraman Control & 0.365 \({}^{**}\) & 0.070 & 0.944 & \(-\)0.001 & 0.076 & \(-\)0.098 & \(-\)0.081 \({}^{**}\) & 1 \\ \cline{2-9}  & Sig. (\(\Delta\) Guided) & 0.003 & 0.532 & 0.30 & 0.990 & 0.753 & 0.241 & 0.003 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Assessment of positive lymph nodes in relation with general histopathological data. any of the ideas from the age-related controversy because we did not find any correlations between age and aggressiveness factors. In a study on a large cohort of patients operated on for PTMC, the authors found that 35% of the cases had multicentric tumors, the same percent as in our study group [21]. The same study found 8% of tumors with capsular invasion, while extracapsular invasion was present in a higher percentage (30%), and the authors demonstrated that capsular invasion and extrathyroidal tumor extension are independent risk factors for recurrence and distant metastasis on a mean follow-up of 5.3 years. Our results showed that large diameter (\(\geq\) 5 mm), multifocality, and extracapsular invasion were correlated with an increased risk of positive lymph nodes, which is another important factor of aggressiveness. Other markers of aggressiveness, such as lymphatic emboli, vascular invasion, and perineural invasion, were also present in 9.0%, 0.7%, and 5.6% of our cases, comparable with the results of previous studies [22]. Positive lymph nodes in the central compartment were found in 5.6% of cases, which is far lower than in other studies in which central compartment lymphadenectomy was routinely performed (in the absence of macroscopic lymph nodes), showing the high frequency of subclinical central lymph node metastasis in PTMC [23; 24].