Background/aim: The aim of this study was to document the effect of the application of prophylactic central compartment dissection on radioiodine ablation activities for papillary thyroid carcinoma. Materials and methods: This retrospective study included 452 (383 females, 69 males; mean age = 46.69 years, min?max: 13?71) patients who received ablative radioiodine activity between April 2010 and December 2014. The histopathological reports of thyroidectomy and the administered radioiodine activity were evaluated. Frequencies of prophylactic central compartment dissection according to T stage of the primary tumor, detection rate of lymph node metastases, and its effect on radioiodine ablation activities were calculated. Results: Prophylactic central compartment dissection was applied for a total of 252 (56%) patients. The T stages of these patients were T1a, T1b, T2, and T3 in 85 (34%), 106 (42%), 41 (16%), and 20 (8%) cases, respectively. The administered radioiodine ablation activity was affected by central compartment lymph node metastases in 112 (44%) patients. While 32 (29%) of these patients had papillary microcarcinoma (T1a), 48 (43%), 20 (18%), and 12 (11%) of them had T1b, T2, and T3 tumors, respectively. Conclusion: The application of prophylactic central compartment dissection affects the radioiodine ablation activity in approximately half of patients. This effect is more prominent in T1 stage tumors.