关键词: 淋巴结, 甲状腺癌, 喉返神经, 颈淋巴结清扫术

Abstract: Objective To explore the clinical value of level Ⅶ Neck dissection to differentiated thyroid carcinoma. Methods A total of 156 patients in Shunde Hospital from June 2015 to May 2017 were included in the study，in which 78 cases underwent thyroidectomy and level Ⅵ + level Ⅶ neck lymph nodes dissection（study group），and another 78 cases underwent thyroidectomy and level Ⅵ neck dissection（control group）alone. The number of lymph nodes，operation time，blood loss and postoperative complications were collected and analyzed in two groups. Results Central compartment lymph node metastasis was found in 52.56% of study group ，and in 51.28% of control group ，with no significant difference（χ2=3.34，P=0.345）. In study group，14.10% of level Ⅶ lymph nodes was found invasive， which was lower than other parts of central compartment lymph node district（52.56%，41/78）. Averagely， 7.7±1.2 lymph nodes were found in study group，whereas 5.2±1.1 lymph nodes in control group，which was significant difference（t=0.38 ，P=0.036）. In all cases of this group ，there was no difference in the average hospitalization stay ， operation time ， blood loss ， postoperative blood loss （P>0.05）. Conclusion DTC has high metastasis rate in the level Ⅶ. So it is necessary to clean lymph nodes in the level Ⅶ，which provide more accurate for postoperative efficacy of differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Key words: lymph nodes, thyroid carcinoma, recurrent laryngeal nerve, neck dissection