Does unilateral thyroid cancer require complete resection?

Thyroid cancer is a common endocrine tumor in clinical practice. Whether or not a complete thyroidectomy is necessary is related to factors such as the pathological classification of thyroid cancer, the location of the lesion, whether there is lymph node metastasis, and whether it is hereditary. Most thyroid cancer patients need a complete thyroidectomy when lymph node metastasis occurs. A small number of patients without lymph node metastasis may also undergo a partial thyroidectomy.

1. Pathological classification: Thyroid cancer can be divided into stage I, stage II, stage III, and stage IV according to the TNM staging standard. If the patient has early thyroid cancer, no lymph node metastasis, and the lesion is papillary thyroid cancer, a total thyroidectomy is generally required;

2. Location of lesion: If the patient has papillary thyroid cancer, the lesion is usually on one side of the thyroid gland, and the thyroid gland should be completely removed. If the patient has follicular thyroid cancer, it is not necessary to perform a total thyroidectomy in most cases because the malignancy is low;

3. Whether there is lymph node metastasis: If the patient has papillary thyroid cancer, no lymph node metastasis, and the lesion site has not invaded the surrounding lymph nodes, a total thyroidectomy can generally be performed. If the patient has follicular thyroid cancer and lymph node metastasis, a complete thyroidectomy on one side is required;

4. Whether it is hereditary: If someone in the patient's family has had thyroid cancer, the probability of other family members getting the disease will be higher than normal people, and a complete resection surgery will be required to further clarify the cause.

In addition, patients need to undergo relevant examinations before surgery, such as blood routine, liver and kidney function, coagulation function, electrocardiogram, chest X-ray, etc. It is also necessary to clarify whether the patient has diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. If the above diseases exist, they need to be controlled before surgery. Patients also need to regularly review thyroid function and neck ultrasound after surgery to understand the development of the disease.