This is a cross-control study describing histopathological characteristics, immunohistochemistry and the status of BRAF V600E mutation in recurrent and metastatic differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC); the highest lymph node metastasis (90.4%), 17.7% of bed thyroid recurrence, papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) accounted for the highest proportion (96.1%), Thyroglobulin and Ki67 have valuation to distinguish aggressive variants and immediate variants of PTC, the proportion of BRAF V600E mutation is 70.2%, BRAF V600E mutation was associated with tumor size, RAI-refractory DTC and more frequent in tall cell variant of PTC, extra-nodal extension, but not related to age, tumor stage, distant metastasis, vascular invasion, necrosis and calcification.