CHICAGO – Lateral neck dissection for thyroid cancer is associated with significant early postoperative morbidity of 20%, even in the hands of experienced endocrine surgeons at a high-volume medical center.
Among 99 procedures, 20 patients had 26 complications, including surgical site infection in 10, chyle leak in 7, spinal accessory nerve dysfunction in 7, and seroma in 2.
Patrice Wendling/Frontline Medical News
Dr. Jason A. Glenn
Long-term complications were rare, however, occurring in just one patient with a spinal accessory nerve injury, Dr. Jason A. Glenn said at the annual meeting of the Central Surgical Association.
Using a prospectively collected thyroid database, the investigators reviewed 96 patients who underwent lateral neck dissection (LND) for suspicion of initial or recurrent lateral neck metastases by one of four experienced endocrine surgeons at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
Three patients had reoperations during the study period of February 2009 and June 2014, resulting in 99 procedures and 198 lateral necks evaluated preoperatively. Most patients were women (73%) and their median age was 45 years.
LND was performed on 127 necks and metastatic disease was confirmed in 111 (87%). This included all 82 patients who had positive preoperative fine needle aspiration (FNA), 25 of 37 patients operated on without FNA, and 4 of 8 patients with a negative or nondiagnostic FNA, Dr. Glenn said.
The median number of lymph nodes excised was 22 (range 1-122), with a median of 3 (range 0-39) malignant nodes per lateral neck.
“FNA is an important adjunct in the preoperative evaluation, especially when it returns a positive result,” he said. “However, when FNA is negative, not available, or not performed, you really must consider the entire clinical picture, as 64% of these patients were found to have lymph node metastases in our study.”
Surgical drains were placed in 94% of the 127 lateral neck dissections and remained in place for a median of 6 days. The median length of stay was 1 day.
There was no association between drain duration and surgical site infection, although chyle leak was associated with a significantly longer median drain duration (12 days vs. 6 days; P value < .01), Dr. Glenn said.
Two of the seven patients with chyle leak, defined by drain output that was milky white and/or exceeded 1,000 cc in 24 hours, underwent reoperation with ligation of the cervical thoracic duct and fibrin sealant application. Both leaks resolved and patients were discharge on postoperative day 2.
“Surgical drains allow for early leak recognition and monitoring of leak resolution,” he said. “Most of these complications were diagnosed and managed on an outpatient basis, highlighting the importance of continuity of care between the inpatient and outpatient setting for the treatment of thyroid cancer.”
Discussant Janice L. Pasieka, head of general surgery and a clinical professor of surgery and oncology at the University of Calgary (Alberta), said the retrospective review is a very valuable contribution to the literature because of its comprehensive follow-up.
“Today, most patients with this type of procedure are discharged within the 23 hours, and as such, complications such as nerve palsies, chyle leaks, and surgical site infections are not apparent for the majority of patients during their hospital stay,” Dr. Pasieka said. “Many times, the true incidences are lost unless the patient re-presents to the health care system, thus introducing your bias of only those significant enough to require intervention.”
Dr. Glenn and his coauthors reported no financial disclosures.