Table 2.
Perioperative outcomes
| Variables | All patients (n = 184, %) | p-value | LRLN lymph node dissection (n = 110, %) | p-value* | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VAME (n = 75) | RAME (n = 109) | VAME (n = 40) | Early RAME (n = 43) | Last RAME (n = 27) | |||
| Operation time | 321.8 ± 29.1 | 321.2 ± 45.0 | 0.336 | 321.9 ± 35.1 | 327.4 ± 37.5 | 324.5 ± 50.5 | 0.827 |
| Blood loss | 187.7 ± 27.8 | 198.1 ± 35.2 | 0.379 | 188.1 ± 29.2 | 200.0 ± 4.6 | 171.2 ± 47.6 | 0.003 |
| Re-surgery | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| R0 resection | 74 (98.7) | 109 (100) | 0.408 | 40 (100) | 43 (100) | 27 (100) | 1.000 |
| Number of DLN | 22.2 ± 8.6 | 24.8 ± 8.0 | 0.114 | 28.1 ± 10.2 | 23.2 ± 5.9 | 30.6 ± 10.2 | 0.003 |
| RRLN lymph node | 2.2 ± 1.5 | 2.7 ± 1.7 | 0.242 | 2.5 ± 1.7 | 2.7 ± 1.4 | 2.8 ± 1.6 | 0.785 |
| Metastasis rate | 7 (9.3) | 16 (14.7) | 0.281 | 5 (12.5) | 5 (11.6) | 11 (40.7) | 0.004 |
| LRLN lymph node | 2.3 ± 2.2 | 2.8 ± 2.6 | 0.325 | 4.4 ± 2.2 | 3.6 ± 2.0 | 5.4 ± 2.7 | 0.008 |
| Metastasis rate | 3 (4.0) | 15 (13.8) | 0.029 | 3 (7.5) | 5 (11.6) | 10 (37.0) | 0.006 |
| 90-day mortality | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| ICU stay, n | 8 (10.7) | 8 (7.3) | 0.431 | 6 (15.0) | 3 (7.0) | 2 (7.4) | 0.476 |
| Length of ICU stay | 7 (3–20) | 5.5 (1–21) | 0.495 | 7 (3–20) | 4, 5, 21 | 6, 10 | 0.895 |
| Postoperative stay | 18.9 ± 7.8 | 18.0 ± 5.9 | 0.596 | 17.8 ± 6.5 | 16.3 ± 3.5 | 20.1 ± 8.3 | 0.056 |
RRLN right recurrent laryngeal nerve, DLN dissected lymph node, LRLN left recurrent laryngeal nerve
*p value of difference between early and late RAME group