The effect of thymectomy during central neck dissection in papillary thyroid carcinoma: a case-controlled study

Central lymph-node dissection (CND) as part of total thyroidectomy is recommended in the treatment of papillary thyroid cancer. CND with thymus resection for achieving more oncological clearance is suggested in guidelines, but the benefits of this technique are still unclear due to the risk of parathyroid glands injury and postoperative hypocalcemia. The aim of this study is to evaluate the risk and benefits of thymectomy in CND with total thyroidectomy. We retrospectively reviewed the records of 188 patients with total thyroidectomy and CND. Participants were divided into 110 patients with CND and thymus resection and 78 patients with thymus preservation. Oncological completeness was evaluated by measuring the postoperative thyroglobulin and hypocalcemia as a postoperative complication was measured by blood calcium level. Based on our findings, patients who underwent thymus resection had a higher incidence of hypocalcemia compared to patients with thymus preservation (56.4% vs. 39.2%; P = 0.027), but there was no significant difference in thyroglobulin levels between these two groups. (P = 0.115 and 0.185, respectively) The proportion of involved to total resected lymph nodes in our study was 28%, which did not statistically differ among the thymus groups. Routine thymus resection during the CND and total thyroidectomy is not recommended because of more postoperative hypocalcemia occurrence and minimal oncological benefit in PTC treatment.