Recurrent laryngeal nerve inlet zone lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid cancer / 中华普通外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the clinical significance of recurrent laryngeal nerve inlet zone(RLNIZ) lymph node metastasis in papillary thyroid cancer(PTC).Methods:The clinical data of the clinicopathologic characteristics of 738 cases with papillary thyroid cancer at our centers from Jul 2017 to Jun 2018 was retrospectively reviewed. 108 cases with RLNIZ lymph node dissection for pathological examination were included. The relationship between metastasis of RLNIZ lymph node and clinicopathologic characteristics was analyzed.Results:RLNIZ lymph node was detected in 12.3%(91/738)cases, the mean lymph node number in RLNIZ was 1.5±0.7, and 30.8%(28/91) cases suffered RLNIZ lymph node metastasis. RLNIZ lymph node metastasis(LNM) is associated with tumor size( P=0.028), capsular invasion( P=0.019), No. of central compartment LNM( P<0.001) and lateral neck LNM( P<0.001). No. of central compartment LNM was found to be the independent risk factor of RLNIZ lymph node metastasis. The incidence of dysphagia and inferior parathyroid damage was 0.9%(1/108)respectively. Conclusions:RLNIZ lymph node metastasis is common among PTC patients , therefore, RLNIZ lymph node should be routinely removed especially in patients with tumor size over 1cm、suspected capsular invasion and lateral neck lymph node metastasis confirmed by preoperative imaging examination.