Introduction: Well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma invades adjacent structures of the neck in a minority of patients. However, when it occurs there are significant morbidity and mortality. Aim: Retrospective analysis of the surgical results. Study design: Clinical retrospective. Material and method: The records of 509 patients underwent thyroidectomy in our department from 1994 to 2000 were reviewed. There were 71 cases of papillary carcinoma with 13 cases of extrathyroidal extension (18.3%). There were five men and eight women whose age median was 57. The most commonly invaded structures were: strap muscles - 10; trachea in 9 cases; recurrent laryngeal nerve - 6; larynx - 4; and esophagus - 1. In all the cases, we performed total thyroidectomy, with radical neck dissection in five and level VI dissection in six. An end-to-end anastomosis of the trachea was performed in five patients, an anastomosis between the cricoid cartilage and the trachea was performed in two patients. One patient underwent total laryngectomy. Results: One patient died due to cardiac failure in the 10th postoperative day. A curative dose of 131I has been given to all the remaining patients. All of them have received thyroid hormone replacement. Another patient died due to clinical cause in the 14th postoperative month. One patient has refused total laryngectomy and is alive with disease. Eight patients have been doing well from 10 to 49 months postoperatively. One of them have had local recurrence which was surgically salvaged.
thyroid; neoplasms; surgery; papillary carcinoma
