Alternative surgery for low grade thyroid malignancies.

Traditional surgery for thyroid nodule is usually performed via anatomic localization of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN), inferior thyroid artery and parathyroid glands (PTGs) initially. Due to the RLN constantly lying beneath the thyroid gland and low grade malignancy of well-differentiated thyroid cancer (WDTC), it is not necessary to find the nerve initially and impossible to make too deep resection. From May 1998 to July 2005, 33 patients with WDTC underwent total thyroidectomy along the capsule with or without modified radical neck dissection without identifying the RLN and PTGs initially.