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, there is no lymph node metastasis, and the lesion is at the edge of the thyroid gland, a total thyroidectomy can generally be performed;

2. Lesion site: If the patient has thyroid cancer at the lesion site, especially papillary thyroid cancer, and the papillary cancer has not metastasized to the lymph nodes, a total thyroidectomy is generally required, combined with neck lymph node dissection, which includes bilateral neck lymph nodes, to avoid neck lymph node recurrence or distant metastasis after surgery;

3. Whether there is lymph node metastasis: If the patient has thyroid cancer accompanied by cervical lymph node metastasis, or distant organ metastasis, including lung metastasis, liver metastasis, etc., the thyroid gland needs to be completely removed, and lymph node dissection and functional dissection of the lungs and liver should be performed after surgery to prevent serious complications after surgery;

4. Whether the disease is hereditary: If there are multiple people in the patient's family suffering from thyroid cancer, the patient needs to undergo a total thyroidectomy. Other patients can choose appropriate auxiliary treatments according to their condition, such as radionuclide therapy.

In addition, whether the patient needs to undergo a total thyroidectomy depends on the patient's own situation. It is recommended that patients be hospitalized and treated promptly after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer to avoid delaying the disease.