This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

Our data widen the knowledge about ganglioneuroma and confirm that the surgical approach has an excellent prognosis with very low incidence of surgery-related complications and recurrences.

Pediatric patients are likely to benefit from a tailored surgical strategy. Uniformly offering patients total thyroidectomy seems to be an overly radical approach.

Most predictors, unfortunately, are only identified post-operatively by histopathologic examination: Just a small part of them can be pre-operatively detected with a low-sensitivity neck ultrasonography. In PTC patients with pre-operative predictors, we suggest an accurate pre- and intra-operative evaluation of CC and/or LC to find suspicious lymph nodes. The presence of LNM in CC has an impact on disease/progression/relapse-free survival. We suggest performing RAI therapy and an accurate follow-up for pediatric patients with only post-operative predictors.

Pre-operative diagnosis supplies important information to the surgeon for a proper therapy: a complete excision of the lesion without inflammatory signs is essential to avoid re-intervention and to achieve a good outcome.