Table 1.
Clinical characteristics and surgical outcomes of the patients
| Items | RLCLND (n = 260) |
|---|---|
| Mean age (years) | 41.2 ± 11.9 |
| Male/female, (n) | 63:197 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 23.9 ± 3.7 |
| Primary tumor size (mm) | 10.7 ± 6.9 |
| Multicentricity/multifocality (n) | 97 |
| Type of surgery | |
| Total thyroidectomy with lateral RLCLND (n) | 239 |
| Total thyroidectomy with bilateral RLCLND (n) | 21 |
| Conversion to open surgery | 0 |
| Total number of removed lateral nodes (n) | 17.9 ± 8.6 |
| Lateral node metastasis (n) | 124 |
| Total operating time (min) | 201 ± 63 |
| Postoperative hospital stay (d) | 6.5 ± 2.6 |
| Mean drain days (d) | 6.3 ± 1.1 |
| Postoperative complications | |
| Postoperative bleeding (n) | 0 |
| Subcutaneous emphysema | 0 |
| Pneumomediastinum | 0 |
| Hypoparathyroidism | |
| Temporary (n) | 51 |
| Permanent (n) | 0 |
| RLN paralysis | |
| Temporary (n) | 3 |
| Permanent (n) | 0 |
| Seroma | 3 |
| Skin burn | 0 |
| Flap necrosis | 0 |
| Hematoma | 0 |
| Tracheal fistula | 1 |
| Wound infection | 1 |
| Chyle leakage (n) | 2 |
| Postoperative Tg level (ng/mL) | 0.81 ± 0.2 |
| Cosmetic satisfaction score | 4.68 ± 0.35 |
| Mean follow-up (months) | 28.6 ± 8.3 |
BMI body mass index, RLN recurrent laryngeal nerve, Tg thyroglobulin, RLCLND robotic lateral cervical lymph node dissection