Objective To investigate the application value of carbon nanoparticles in lymph node dissection and parathyroid gland protection during thyroid cancer surgery. Methods Clinical data of 94 patients undergoing thyroid cancer surgery in our hospital from Jan 2018 to June 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. All patients underwent total thyroidectomy and central lymph node dissection. They were divided into experimental group (54 cases) and control group (40 cases). Carbon nanoparticles were intraoperatively applied to the patients of the experimental group and not to those of the control group. The general data of all the patients and the number of detected and metastatic lymph nodes were collected. Preoperative serum levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH) and calcium and those at 3 d and 30 d after operation were measured. Results The differences in patients' age, gender, tumor size and TNM stage between the two groups were statistically insignificant (all P>0.05). The average numbers of lymph nodes detected in the experimental group and the control group were (9.80±4.80) and (6.95±3.86), and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=13.006, P<0.05). There were no differences in serum levels of calcium and PTH between the two groups at all time points (all P>0.05). Conclusion The application of carbon nanoparticles during thyroid cancer surgery can significantly increase the number of lymph nodes detected and improve the positive rate of metastatic lymph node clearance with unobvious protective effect on parathyroid gland.
