Guiding role of nano-carbon in prevention of cervical lymph node dissection in cN0 thyroid cancer / 中华内分泌外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the tracing effect of nano-carbon in the cervical lymph nodes of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and the guiding role of the dissection strategy of the contralateral lymph nodes.Methods:The medical records of 516 patients with PTC in Department of Endocrine and Breast Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from Jan. 2013 to Dec. 2017, including cN0 patients (436 cases) and cN1 patients (80 cases) , were retrospectively analyzed. There were 137 males and 379 females, the male to female ratio was 1.002.76. During the operation, nano-carbon was used to trace lymph nodes, and the number of lymph nodes in each lateral area (area II, III, IV) was collected, and the rate of black stained and non-black stained lymph node metastasis (LNM) was calculated based on the postoperative pathological results. SPSS 22.0 statistical software was used for analysis, t test was used for measurement data, and χ2 test was used for count data. Results:In 436 patients with cN0, the black-stained LNM rate in zone II ( P=0.002) , the black-stained LNM rate in zone III ( P=0.000) , and the black-stained LNM rate in zone IV ( P=0.002) were higher than those of non-black stained LNM. The rate of black-stained LNM in 80 cN1 patients (Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳ) was also higher than that of non-black-stained LNM (0.011, 0.019, 0.015) . The rate of black-stained LNM in cN0 patients affected the LNM in areas Ⅱ and Ⅳ ( P=0.000, P=0.000) . In patients with cN1, the black-stained LNM rate in zone Ⅲ had an effect on zone Ⅱ (0.030) ; it had no effect on the black-stained LNM rate in zone Ⅳ (0.315) . Conclusion:The black-stained LNM rate of the posterior zone (zone Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳ) with nano-carbon can represent the LNM rate of the lateral zone and help guide the lymph node dissection in the lateral zone. In addition, the black-stained LNM rate of zone Ⅲ can affect zone Ⅱ. The LNM rate in zone IV has the role of sentinel lymph nodes in the lateral zone.