hyroid cancer is the ninth most frequent cancer worldwide, and its incidence has risen dramatically. 1,2 There were 567 233 patients with newly diagnosed thyroid cancer in 2018, representing 3.1% of all cancer cases worldwide. Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) comprises more than 80% of all thyroid cancers, and is usually associated with an excellent prognosis; 3 however, up to 30% of patients experience significant disease progression, including regional recurrences and distant metastases. [4][5][6] Researchers have tried to identify the patients at high-risk from among the population with favorable outcomes; 7-9 clinicopathological factors, including tumor size, extrathyroidal extension, lymph node metastasis, and multifocality, have been thoroughly evaluated in an effort to predict recurrence and mortality.Multifocality in thyroid cancer is defined as the simultaneous presence of more than 1 tumor focus within the thyroid gland. 10 Multifocality in PTC occurred in 18% to 87% of the cases in the literature. 10,11 Several studies have demonstrated that multifocality is associated with high-risk features of PTC, including aggressive histologic subtype, extrathyroidal extension, lymph node involvement, distant metastasis, and recurrences. 12-14 Some researchers have further demonstrated that multifocal PTCs could decrease overall and cancer-specific survival. 11,15 Other researchers have indicated that patients with multifocal diseases showed a similar clinical course or comparable recurrence rates as those with unifocal disease. [16][17][18] These conflicting results indicate a need IMPORTANCE Multifocality is common in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), but it is unclear whether multifocal tumors are associated with tumor recurrence or cancer-specific survival. OBJECTIVE To compare tumor recurrence rates in patients with multifocal vs unifocal PTCs. DATA SOURCES We searched PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science Core Collection, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for pertinent studies published in English from inception to June 30, 2020. STUDY SELECTION The search strategy yielded 26 studies that compared tumor recurrence in patients with multifocal vs unifocal PTC. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS Data was extracted in accordance with the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guideline. Characteristics of study populations and hazard ratio (HR) of multifocality were independently extracted by 2 investigators.
MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe primary outcome was tumor recurrence and the secondary outcome was cancer-specific survival. Subgroup analysis of the primary outcome was based on primary tumor size, number of tumor foci, and patient age. RESULTS Among 26 studies with a total of 33 976 patients, recurrence rates were significantly higher in patients with multifocal PTC than in those with unifocal PTC (pooled HR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.52-2.14). Cancer-specific survival was comparable between the groups (HR, 1.19; 95% CI, 0.85-1.68). In subgroup analyses, the HRs of m...