Objective: Therapeutic lateral neck dissection is recommended for papillary thyroid cancer with metastatic lymph nodes detected on palpation or on preoperative imaging. Current guidelines recommend systematic dissection of levels IIA, III, IV and VB in these patients. Despite this recommendation, management of level V remains controversial due to a varying degree of clinical and occult lymph node involvement reported in published retrospective studies, but also due to the functional risk involved in level V dissection in which the spinal accessory nerve may be temporarily or permanently injured. The aim of this review was to address the issues involved in level VB dissection and to provide our view of surgical management of level VB. Method: Narrrative review. Result: We propose a new concept of a partial or “super-superselective” level VB dissection in patients with clinical disease in levels IIA, III and IV.
目的:对于通过触诊或术前影像学检查发现淋巴结转移的甲状腺乳头状癌,推荐进行治疗性侧颈淋巴结清扫术。现行指南建议对这些患者进行IIA、III、IV和VB区的系统性清扫。尽管有此建议,但由于已发表的回顾性研究中报告的临床和隐匿性淋巴结受累程度不一,以及VB区清扫涉及的功能风险(副神经可能受到暂时性或永久性损伤),VB区的处理仍存在争议。本综述旨在探讨VB区清扫涉及的问题,并提供我们对VB区手术处理的看法。方法:叙述性综述。结果:我们提出一个新概念,即对于IIA、III和IV区存在临床病变的患者,进行部分或“超超选择性”的VB区清扫。
Super-Superselective Level VB Neck Dissection for Papillary Thyroid Cancer