ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To investigate the use ofultrasonically activated scalpel (UAS) in open thyroid surgery. METHODS From February 2004 to March 2005, thyroidectomy were performed in 77 cases by the same operation team. Forty seven cases received UAS thyroidectomy and 30 cases underwent conventional thyroidectomy. The operation time, estimated blood loss in operation, postoperative draining volume within the 24 hours, the length of hospitalization and postoperative complications between two groups were compared. RESULTS The average operation time of lobectomy and total/subtotal thyroidectomy in the UAS group were 61?4.34 and 85?3.02 minutes, and in conventional group were 82?3.37 and 121? 2.51 minutes. There was a significant difference in average operation time (P0.05). CONCLUSION The use of UAS in thyroid surgery was safe and can reduce the operation time.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate a method to detect the sentinel lymph nodes(SN) of thyroid papillary carcinoma and its predictive value for cervical metastasis of carcinoma. Methods Intraoperative methylene blue dye mapping was performed in 24 cases of thyroid papillary carcinoma. The coincidence rate of frozen section pathology and routine section pathology of SN was observed,and the predictive value of SN for (metastasis) of the cervical lymph nodes was noted. Results SN was successfully detected in 21(87.5%) of 24 cases. The average number of SN was 3 nodes. There was one false negative case, the false negative rate was 4.8%(1/24), and no false positive cases were found. The predictive value of sentinel lymph nodes to (cervical) lymph node metastasis was 83.3%.Conclusions Methylene blue staining to identify sentinel lymph nodes could accurately predict the status of cervical lymph node metastasis of thyroid papillary carcinoma.