ABSTRACT
Objective To assess clinical significance of the right side lymph node dissection behind recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).Methods Clinical data of 111 cases of PTC adimitted in our hospital (Department of Vascular and Thyroid Surgery,the Union Hospital of Fujian Medical University) from Feb.2013 to Mar.2014 were retrospectively analyzed.Central lymph node metastasis was analyzed.Univariate and multivariate analysis were made to analyze relations between the right side lymph node (Ⅵ b2) metastasis behind RLN and gender,age,tumor size,capsule infiltration and so on.Results Among 111 cases of PTC,71 had central lymph node metastasis (63.96％).Total metastasis number of the right side lymph node behind recurrent laryngeal nerve (Ⅵ b2) was 2.720±2.037,and the transfer rate was 27.03％ (30/111) (P＜0.05),all lower than those of Ⅵ bl.The one-way ANOVA results showed that metastasis of the right side lymph node behind RLN (Ⅵ b2) was related with age,lateral neck dissection,and Ⅵ b1 lymph node metastasis (P＜0.05) while Ⅵ bl lymph node metastasis was the only independent risk factor for metastasis of the right side lymph node behind RLN(Ⅵ b2) in PTC.Conclusion For patients with right PTC,the metastasis rate of Ⅵ b2 is high,thus dissection of this area is favorable and can accurately reflect lymph node metastasis and further to guide tumor staging and postoperative treatment.