Abstract: Objective: To analyze the recurrence-related factors, metastasis-related factors, long-term prognosis and therapeu-tic strategy of thyroid carcinoma in children and adolescents. Methods: Data from 59 children and adolescents(≤20) with thyroid carcinoma seen in our hospital between 1970 and 1987 were evaluated. Of these 59 patients, 12 underwent lobec-tomy, 8 underwent lobectomy and central compartment node clearance, and 39 underwent lobectomy and neck dissection.Thyroid hormone suppressive therapy was administered to all patients after surgery. Results: The 20-year survival rate was 91.53%. Thirty-two patients(57.63%) had cervical lymph node metastasis, and 12 patients(20.34%) had local recur-rence after surgery. Capsule invasion and bilateral involvement were correlated with tumor recurrence and lymph node metastases. Age≤15 was correlated with tumor recurrence. For cN₀ patients, no significant difference was found in tumor recurrence rate between patients treated with lobectomy and those treated with lobectomy plus central compartment node clearance. For cN+ patients, no statistical significance was found in tumor recurrence rate between patients treated with functional neck dissection and those treated with radical neck dissection (P>0.05). Conclusion: The treatment for thyroid carcinoma in children and adolescents should be based on careful stratification of low-and high-risk cases and special at-tention should be paid to protectiong normal function.