Objective To investigate the clinical effect of non inflatable endoscope assisted lateral cervical lymph node dissection in elderly patients with thyroid cancer. Methods The clinical data of 61 patients with lateral cervical lymphadenectomy assisted by non inflatable endoscope from January 2016 to December 2020 were retrospectively summarized. There were 48 females and 13 males with an average age of (71±6.5) years (range, 65–82 years). The operative time, intraoperative blood loss, cases of accessory nerve injury, cases of phrenic nerve injury, total number of lateral neck dissection lymph nodes, postoperative lymphatic leakage, postoperative drainage volume and hospital stay were counted. Neck ultrasonography and thyroglobulin levels were measured during follow-up to assess recurrence. Results All patients successfully completed the non inflatable endoscopic assisted lateral cervical lymph node dissection, the operative time was 51–117 min, the average was (92±22.1) min, the intraoperative blood loss was about 80–150 mL, the average was (120±17.1) mL, the postoperative drainage was 190–670 mL, the average was (332±167.1) mL, the postoperative hospital stay was 5–13 d, the average was (9±2.3) d, the total number of lymph nodes was 11–23, the average was (16±4.7). There were 11 cases of hypoparathyroidism, 5 cases of temporary recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, 3 cases of accessory nerve injury and no case of phrenic nerve injury. One patient had local redness and swelling after removing the drainage tube. Lymphatic leakage occurred in 3 cases. There was no recurrence during the follow-up period. Conclusion Non inflatable endoscope assisted lateral neck lymph node dissection provides technical support for elderly patients with thyroid cancer, and the effect is exact, and the short and medium-term follow-up results are satisfactory.
Objective To investigate the association between preoperative serum TSH concentration and thyroid carcinoma in patients with nodular goiter.Methods Data of 632 patients with nodular goiter from January 2004 to December 2010 were analyzed retrospectively.Results Preoperative serum TSH in nodular goiter with thyroid carcinoma was higher than that without thyroid carcinoma，which was （2.10±1.38）mU/L and （1.51±0.98）mU/L，respectively （P＜0.000 1）.The risk of malignancy increased as serum level of TSH rose in nodular goiter patients （P=0.023 5），the ratios were 9.91% （0.3-0.9mU/L），12.37% （0.9-1.7mU/L）， 20.09% （1.7-4.8mU/L），and 27.27%（＞4.8mU/L）.The TSH level of stageⅢ-Ⅳ patients higher than that stageⅠ-Ⅱ patients （P=0.030 6）.The diameter of tumor ＞4 cm had highest mean TSH level， and which ≤ 2cm had lowest mean TSH level（P=0.018 6）. Conclusion Preoperative serum TSH level perhaps is a risk predictor for nodular goiter with thyroid carcinoma.
ObjectiveTo understand the follow-up needs of postoperative patients with thyroid cancer and analyze its influencing factors, so as to provide a reference for the establishment of a follow-up management system for patients with thyroid cancer.MethodsConvenience sampling was used to conduct a questionnaire survey on the follow-up need, recovery, anxiety, and stress of patients after thyroid cancer surgery in 2 tertiary A hospitals from March to April in 2020. The self-designed follow-up needs questionnaire, the Quality of Recovery Questionnaire 15 (QoR-15), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4) were scored. The higher score, the higher need, the better recovery, and the more serious anxiety and stress.ResultsIn this study, 382 questionnaires were distributed, which of 351 were returned and of 349 were valid, the valid callback rate was 99.4% (349/351). ① Follow-up needs. Follow-up form: Online platform was the preferred follow-up method (72.2%), the most patients hoped that the follow-up would be conducted by a doctor (82.5%) and hoped to start the follow-up at 1 month after the operation (67.6%) and in the afternoon (50.7%), the duration of each follow-up was 10–15 min (47.3%), and accepted the follow-up frequency of 1 times per month (41.3%) and the lifetime follow-up (69.9%). Needs degree of follow-up contents: There were 13 follow-up items requiring more than 80% of patients. The top 5 items with the higher follow-up needs score were the question on test results, returning visit guidance, knowledges of metastasis and recurrence, medication guidance, and issuance of inspection orders, and their scores were 4.78±0.47, 4.70±0.51, 4.70±0.57, 4.65±0.59, 4.57±0.64, respectively. The results of multiple linear regression analysis were found that the age (young), marital status (unmarried), medical payment method (with medical insurance), and postoperative interval (<1 month) were closely related to the follow-up needs score (P<0.05). ② Recovery, anxiety, and stress statuses: The total QoR-15 score of patients was 79.87±29.95, which was positively correlated with the total score of follow-up needs (72.93±8.52, r=0.131, P=0.014). No significant correlation was found between the total score of GAD-7 (4.77±3.59) or PSS-4 (6.51±3.10) and the total score of follow-up needs (r=0.068, P=0.207; r=0.008, P=0.881).ConclusionsYoung, unmarried, medically insured, and early postoperative patients with thyroid cancer have higher follow-up needs. Patients with better recovery after surgery have a higher follow-up needs. Medical staff should pay attention to follow-up services after discharge, rationally arrange content, frequency, and time period of follow-up according to follow-up needs of patients, so as to improve quality of medical services.