To investigate the safety and short-term clinical outcome of combined isthmic thyroidectomy with central lymph node dissection in the treatment of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma(PTMC).

A retrospective analysis of the data of 90 patients with PTMC from January 2017 to June 2020 was divided into two groups according to whether the central lymph node dissection was performed, and 40 cases underwent the ipsilateral and isthmic thyroid resection combined with the central lymph node dissection(swept group), 50 cases underwent the ipsilateral and isthmic thyroid resection without the central area lymph node dissection (unswept group). Statistical analysis were performed by using SPSS 23.0 software. Measurement data such as Intraoperative and postoperative indicators, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and serum calcium level were expressed as (±s), and were examined by using independent t test. The incidence of postoperative complications, recurrence rate and metastasis rate of the two groups were analyzed by using χ² test, and A P value of<0.05 was considered as statistically significant difference.

The operative time, intraoperative bleeding, incision length, postoperative pain score, drainage volume, hospitalization time and postoperative complication rate in the unswept group were significantly lower than those in the swept group (P<0.05) , the levels of serum PTH and serum calcium were significantly higher in the unswept group than those in the swept group (P<0.05) , with no significant difference of the recurrence and metastasis rate between two groups (P>0.05).

Compared with the combined central lymph node dissection, the combined isthmic thyroidectomy without central lymph node dissection in the treatment of papillary thyroid carcinoma has advantages such as more safe and lower incidence of complications, with similar short-term clinical outcome.