OBJECTIVETo investigate the risk factors for metastasis and clinical indications for dissection of lymph node posterior to right recurrent laryngeal nerve (LN-prRLN) in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).

METHODSA prospective analysis including 283 consecutive patients with PTC who underwent total thyroidectomy with routine central lymph node dissection (CLND) in our hospital from Jan. 2010 to Jan. 2012 was performed. The right paratracheal lymph nodes in the central compartment lymph nodes (CCLN) were divided into the anterior (level VIa) and posterior (level VIb) compartments by recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN), and were removed respectively. The complications and recurrences were recorded with a follow-up of 3 months to 3 years.

RESULTSCCLN metastases were present in 47.7% (135/283) of the patients, and level VIb metastases were present in 27.2% (77/283) of the patients. The incidence of level VIb metastasis was 20.5% (58/283) in level VIa-positive patients, while 6.7% (19/283) in level VIa-negative patients. Complications of level VIb dissection were found in 4.9% (14/283) of all patients. 2.1% (6/283) of all patients were diagnosed with regional recurrence during the 3-year follow-up. Univariate analysis revealed that level VIb metastasis was significantly associated with tumor size, number, extrathyroidal invasion, clinical nodal stage, level VIa and lateral lymph node metastases. Multivariate analysis revealed that tumor larger than 1 cm, multifocality, extrathyroidal invasion, level VIa and lateral lymph node metastases were independent risk factors for level VIb metastasis.

CONCLUSIONSLymph node posterior to right recurrent laryngeal nerve can be the only site of metastasis from PTC without other cervical compartment involvements. Therefore, routine intraoperative detection of these nodes may be necessary for patients with right PTC, and dissection should be considered when a right-side PTC tumor is larger than 1 cm, multifocality, with extrathyroidal invasion or cervical nodal metastases.

Carcinoma ; pathology ; surgery ; Carcinoma, Papillary ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neck Dissection ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Prospective Studies ; Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve ; pathology ; Risk Factors ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Thyroidectomy ; Tumor Burden

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of complete lung cancer resection on the balance of Th17/Treg cells in the peripheral blood of lung cancer patients. Methods Flow cytometry was used to detect the percentage of Th17 and Treg cells in the peripheral blood of 21 patients with lung cancer before and after operation and 21 healthy controls. RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of fork-head/winged helix transcription factor( Foxp3) and retinoic acid-related orphan receptor γt ( RORγt)in PBMC. The plasma levels of interleukin(IL) -17 and transforming growth factor(TGF) -β1 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). Results After surgery,the percentage of Th17 cells in the peripheral blood decreased and the percentage of Treg cells increased in patients when compared to the pre -operation ( P <0. 01). After surgery,the expression of RORγt was decreased and the expression of Foxp3 was increased in the CD4 +T cells of patients in comparison with the pre-opera-tion(P<0. 01). After surgery,the expression of IL-17 was decreased and the expression of TGF-β1 was increased in the plasma of patients in comparison with the pre -operation( P <0. 01). In addition,the percentage of Th17 and Treg cells,the expression of RORγt and Foxp3,and the expression of IL-17 and TGF-β in the peripheral blood were increased in preoperative lung cancer pa-tients when compared to healthy controls. Conclusion There is a Th17/Treg imbalance in the peripheral blood of lung cancer pa-tients after complete resection of lung cancer.

Objective:To investigate the application of three-dimensional image reconstruction combined with problem-based learning (PBL) in the teaching of physicians receiving continuing education in thoracic surgery.Methods:A total of 68 physicians who received continuing education in Department of Thoracic Surgery in our hospital were selected as research subjects, and they were divided into control group and observation group using a random number table, with 34 physicians in each group. The physicians in the control group received traditional teaching, while those in the observation group received three-dimensional image reconstruction combined with PBL teaching. A questionnaire survey, theoretical assessment, and assessment of practical skills were performed to evaluate the effect of teaching. SPSS 22.0 was used to perform the t-test. Results:Compared with the control group, the observation group had significantly higher degrees of satisfaction with each item of the questionnaire survey ( P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the observation group had significantly higher scores of theoretical assessment [(94.07±6.03) vs. (86.34±5.46), P<0.001] and the assessment of practical skills [(95.20±5.48) vs. (84.71±6.14), P<0.001]. Conclusion:The application of three-dimensional image reconstruction combined with PBL teaching can help to improve the comprehensive ability of physicians receiving continuing education.