ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Although therapeutic lateral neck dissection (LND) may be indicated in thyroid carcinoma, the cervical lymph node groups IIA and IIB, according to Robbins classification, are often not removed. The aim of our study was to determine the relevance of complete comprehensive LND in thyroid carcinoma. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study between January 2011 and August 2018 in a university teaching hospital. Histopathological analysis of LND performed during total thyroidectomy in thyroid carcinoma was reviewed according to lymph node level. To demonstrate that neck dissection of upper groups, IIA/IIB, is necessary when therapeutic LND is indicated in thyroid carcinoma, we compared histopathological involvement in complete comprehensive LND of the upper groups IIA/IIB to the lower groups III/IV/V. RESULTS: A total of 30 LND (24 patients) were suitable for analysis. Analysis by neck side revealed that comprehensive LND dissection samples were negative in 3 cases, and positive in 27. In those 27 positive LND, 15 demonstrated involvement of the groups IIA/IIB, and 12 were positive for involvement of the III/IV/V groups only. The combined presence of positive IIA/IIB and positive III/IV/V was observed in 15 of the 27 neck sides. There was no positive IIA/IIB without positive involvement of III/IV/V groups. CONCLUSIONS: The high rate of positive cervical lymph nodes in the upper groups IIA/IIB supports complete comprehensive LND rather than selective III/IV/V LND in thyroid carcinoma surgery. However, impact on survival and whether postoperative radioactive iodine treatment may be modulated remain to be studied.
ABSTRACT
This prospective study was performed to evaluate the ability of a dual-head gamma camera with fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose coincidence detection emission tomography (FDG-CDET) to detect primary tumor and cervical lymph nodes in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), and to show the response of the carcinoma to chemotherapy. The findings were compared with those of physical examination, computed tomography (CT), and histopathology, before treatment in 61 patients, and after induction chemotherapy in 34 of them. Before treatment, the primary was detected in 93%, 79%, and 95% of cases on panendoscopy, CT, and FDG-CDET, respectively. After chemotherapy, 34 patients were evaluable for response of the primary tumor. Surgical resection was performed in 23 of them: agreement with histopathologic results for response to treatment was 74%, 69%, and 78% for panendoscopy, CT, and FDG-CDET, respectively. No surgical resection was performed in 11 of the 34 patients, but biopsies were performed before radiotherapy, and their rates of agreement with histopathologic results for response to treatment were 75%, 75%, and 67% on panendoscopy, CT, and FDG-CDET, respectively. For cervical lymph nodes, 245 sites were resected in 41 patients, and FDG-CDET appeared competitive with CT in detecting metastatic neck disease, especially after neoadjuvant chemotherapy; the accuracy was 93%. These results demonstrated the ability of FDG-CDET to detect primary tumors and cervical lymph nodes in HNSCC and to show its response to chemotherapy, as compared to the ability of CT and panendoscopy. It may be a complementary tool to evaluate residual disease after induction chemotherapy, although higher sensitivity would be required for FDG-CDET to be considered as a staging modality.
