Abstract: Objective To explore the feasibility of radiomics for predicting lymph node metastasis in the central region of the neck in patients with thyroid papillary carcinoma (PTC). Methods A total of 189 patients with PTC confirmed by thyroid fine needle aspiration biopsy were prospectively enrolled in this study. The cross-sectional and longitudinal ultrasound images and the images of both sections were analyzed for predicting central lymph node metastasis using a radiomics approach with pathological results as the gold standard. Results In the 189 patients, the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of preoperative thyroid ultrasonography for diagnosis of central lymph node metastasis was 69.39%, 64% and 73%, respectively. Based on the ultrasound images of the cross-sections, longitudinal sections and both sections, the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of radiomics for predicting central lymph node metastasis was 66.06%/68.12%/77.69% , 53%/46%/40% , and 52%/53%/51% , respectively. Conclusion Radiomics with combined analysis of the ultrasound images on the cross-section and longitudinal section images achieves a higher accuracy for predicting central lymph node metastasis than analysis a single section, and its diagnostic accuracy is much higher than that of conventional ultrasound examination.