Improvement in Central Neck Dissection Quality in Thyroid Cancer by Use of Tissue Autofluorescence.

Background: Risk of postoperative transient or permanent hypoparathyroidism represents one of the most common complications following total thyroidectomy. This risk increases if a cervical lymphadenectomy procedure must also be performed, as is usually the case in thyroid carcinoma patients. Parathyroid autofluorescence (AF) is a non-invasive method that aids intraoperative identification of parathyroid glands.

Methods: In this prospective study, 189 patients with papillary thyroid cancer who underwent total thyroidectomy with central neck dissection were included. Patients were randomly allocated to one of two groups: NAF (no AF, surgery was performed without AF) and the AF group (surgery was performed with AF-Fluobeam LX system, Fluoptics, Grenoble, France).

Results: The number of excised lymph nodes was significantly higher in the AF compared to the NAF group, with mean values of 21.3 ± 4.8 and 9.2 ± 4.1, respectively. Furthermore, a significantly higher number of metastatic lymph nodes were observed in the AF group. Transient hypocalcemia recorded significantly lower rates in the AF group with 4.9% compared to 16.8% in the NAF group.

Conclusions: AF use during total thyroidectomy with central neck dissection for papillary thyroid carcinoma patients, decreased the rate of iatrogenic parathyroid gland lesions, and increased the rate of lymphatic clearance.