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Updated: Aug 23, 2025
Transoral Robotic Total Thyroidectomy and Bilateral Central Regional Lymph Node Dissection for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma
Published on: September 15, 2023
Extent of Surgery for Follicular Thyroid Carcinoma
Nikhit Kethidi1, Sudeepti Vedula1, Dhvani Shihora1
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Objectives:
To examine the association between the extent of surgery and overall survival in follicular thyroid cancer (FTC) patients.
Study Design:
Retrospective analysis of the National Cancer Database (NCDB).
Methods:
Patients who underwent surgical intervention for FTC from 2004 to 2015 were selected. Patients were >18 years old, with tumor size 1-4 cm, no other malignancies, and >0 follow up time. Patients were divided into two cohorts based on extent of surgery: lobectomy (≥1 lobe resected) and thyroidectomy (total or near total resection). Pearson's chi-squared analysis was used to compare cohorts. Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox hazards models were utilized to determine overall survival between two cohorts with p < 0.05 used for significance.
Results:
A total of 6871 patients were identified with FTC, of which 1507 patients underwent lobectomy and 5364 patients underwent total thyroidectomy. There were no significant differences in patient demographics, comorbidity index, local spread, or tumor grade. Patients undergoing lobectomy had mean survival of 12.94 versus 12.71 years for those undergoing thyroidectomy. Extent of surgery was not associated with a significant difference in survival (5 years OS = 96% in lobectomy and 95.5% in total thyroidectomy, p = 0.08). Stratification by tumor grade resulted in no significant difference in survival between lobectomy and thyroidectomy.
Conclusion:
Survival time was not significantly different in patients with more extensive resection of FTC.
Level Of Evidence:
3 Laryngoscope, 133:993-999, 2023.
