Objective To investigate the clinical significance of the carbon nanoparticles (CN) in prophylactic central compartment lymph node dissection (PCCND) in treatment of clinically node-negative (cN0) papillary thyroid carcinoma.Methods A total of 102 cN0 patients in our department from Dec.2016 to Jun.2017 were enrolled in our study and randomly allocated to the control group (n=51) and the CN group (n=51).All the patients have received (near) total unilateral lobectomy or bilateral thyroidectomy plus the affected side PCCND.The baseline characteristics,lymph node-related indices (including number of total dissected lymph nodes and metastatic lymph nodes at central area) and postoperative complication indices were collected and compared between the 2 groups.Results The differences of baseline characteristics between CN group and the control group were not significant (all P＞0.05).The total number of dissected lymph nodes was 573 in CN group and 334 in the control group.The average lymph nodes in each patient was 11.2±5.46 in CN group,which was higher than 6.5±4.3 of the control group (P＜0.001).The average count of positive lymph nodes was higher in CN group than in the control group (2.0±3.3 vs 0.8±1.5) (P＜0.05).Transient hypocalcaemia happened to 2 patients in CN group and 9 patients in the control group (P=0.025).Conclusions CN can increase the number of lymph nodes in central neck dissection and the rate of metastatic lymph nodes resection.It can decrease the risk of transient parathyroid injury.CN is clinically valuable in treatment of cN0 papillary thyroid cancer undergoing PCCND.

Objective:To evaluate the feasibility of the gasless transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy using an innovative space maintaining method.Methods:From Dec. 2018 to Apr. 2019, patients from Anhui Tumor Hospital treated with gasless transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy were retrospectively analyzed. Index such as intraoperative blood loss, operative time, postoperative hospital stay, and complications were recorded.Results:A total of 24 patients were included into this analysis. All operations were successfully completed. The mean blood loss was (41.3±26.4) ml, operation time was (191.8±40.8) min, postoperative hospital stay was (6.3±1.0) d. Nobody had drinking cough, recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, massive bleeding, hypoparathyroidism or infection with use of preventive antibacteria. Transient lower jaw numbness was found in 8 patients and almost recovered within one month.Conclusions:Gasless transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy with the suspension device seems to be feasible and safe. Further study is needed to verify its validity.