갑상선유두상암에서 예방적 중심경부림프절제술은 생략할 수 있는가?

Is Prophylactic Central Node Dissection Omissible?

Papillary thyroid carcinoma has a good prognosis, but the frequency of locoregional lymph node metastasis is high and is known to occur stepwise fashion. Prophylactic central node dissection in papillary thyroid carcinoma is widely performed from the past. But, the pros and cons of the prophylactic central node dissection has been ongoing for a long time. In the American Thyroid Association management guideline for thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer, which is the most widely used, recommendations about prophylactic central node dissection has been changed in past ten years. In recent systematic review and meta-analysis, prophylactic central node dissection increases the rate of transient hypocalcemia and recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, but there is no difference in the frequency of permanent hypocalcemia or recurrent laryngeal nerve injury. Prophylactic central node dissection has not been shown to improve patient survival, but recurrence has been reported to decrease. According to a questionnaire survey of the members of Korean Scociety of Thyroid-Head and Neck Surgery, Korean doctors tend to perform the prophylactic central node dissection more aggressively than other countries. The reason for this is that Korea has a large number of thyroid surgeries and therefore surgeons are more experienced than other countries.