Background: The characteristics of level VII lymph nodes were explored and the advantages of using carbon nanoparticles (CNs) in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) surgeries were examined. This was a retrospective study investigating the clinical data of patients with PTC who underwent surgical treatment. Methods: From September 2019 to December 2020, a total of 191 consecutive patients with PTC were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were randomly divided into the CNs group and the control group. CNs were used in the CNs group during the operation. There were 103 cases in the CNs group, including 25 males and 78 females, and 88 cases in the control group, including 21 males and 67 females. Parameters, including the characteristics of dissected lymph nodes in level VII, metastatic rate, postoperative complications, and other inpatient-related indicators, were compared between the two groups.Results: The number of lymph nodes dissected in level VII in the CNs group was significantly greater than that in the control group, and the metastatic rate of black-stained lymph nodes was significantly higher than that of non-black-stained lymph nodes (P<0.05). The postoperative hypoparathyroidism rate in the CNs group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). There were no differences in the operation duration, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative drainage duration, or hospitalization days between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusions:The application of CNs for patients with PTC significantly increased the number of lymph nodes dissected in level VII and helped to protect the parathyroid glands (PGs). Moreover, the use of CNs did not increase the rate of postoperative complications. Thus, CNs may be a simple and safe approach when performing surgery in PTC patients.

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Abstract. Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality, being the third most commonly diagnosed cancer among men and the second among women. Accumulating evidence regarding carbohydrate antigen (CA) demonstrated that tumor-associated antigens are clinically useful for the diagnosis, staging and monitoring of human gastrointestinal cancers, particularly colorectal cancer. There has been an extensive investigation for sensitive and specific markers of this disease. Currently, the gastrointestinal cancer-associated carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) is the most widely applied tumor marker in cancer diagnosis. Despite a similar etiology and cancer incidence rates, there are anatomical and clinical differences between colon and rectal cancer, as well as differences regarding tumor progression and adjuvant treatments. To investigate whether CA19-9 is differentially expressed between colon and rectal cancer, we conducted a differential analysis of serum CA19-9 levels among 227 cases of colorectal cancer, analyzing gender, age, Dukes' stage and distant metastasis for human colon and rectal cancer as a single entity, separately and as matched pairs. We demonstrated that the serum CA19-9 levels in colorectal cancer were upregulated in advanced stages with distant metastasis. By contrast, the serum CA19-9 levels in colon cancer displayed a differential and upregulated behavior in advanced stages with distant metastasis. By analyzing as matched pairs, the upregulated serum CA19-9 levels in rectal cancer during the early stages without distant metastasis further supported our hypothesis that the expression of CA19-9 displays a site-specific differential behavior. The integrative analysis suggested a significant difference between human colon and rectal cancer, justifying individualized therapy for these two types of cancer.

The objective of this study was to explore the feasibility and safety of transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy via vestibular approach (TOETVA) compared with endoscopic thyroidectomy via bilateral areola approach (ETBAA) in the treatment of patients with benign thyroid nodules.Materials and Methods: From January 2017 to December 2018, 60 patients who received TOETVA were enrolled as the research group; 65 patients who underwent ETBAA were included as the control group. A retrospective study was performed using the clinical data for these cases. All patients were diagnosed with benign nodules by preoperative examinations. Parameters including surgical trauma, complications, cosmetic satisfaction, and postoperative discomfort were compared between the 2 groups.Results: All operations were completed without incident. There were significant differences in operation time (137.8 ± 18.7 vs. 95.7 ± 17.2 min), intraoperative blood loss (16.8 ± 9.1 vs. 24.6 ± 16.6 mL), drainage volume (123.1 ± 20.9 vs. 153.6 ± 40.2 mL), C-reactive protein level (7.2 ± 5.2 vs. 9.0 ± 4.7 mg/L), drainage time (3.2 ± 0.6 vs. 3.9 ± 1.3 d), postoperative hospital stay (3.3 ± 0.8 vs. 4.1 ± 1.5 d), and sense of skin tension on the neck (0% vs. 10.8%) between the TOETVA and ETBAA groups (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in pain score, incidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, transient hypoparathyroidism, infection, inadvertent parathyroidectomy, or swallow discomfort between the 2 groups. The cosmetic satisfaction score in the TOETVA group was significantly higher than that in the ETBAA group at 1 month after surgery (9.8 ± 0.5 vs. 9.4 ± 0.9, P < 0.05), but at 3 months after the operation, the difference was not statistically significant.Conclusions: TOETVA was accompanied by less surgical trauma and skin tension on the neck than ETBAA, and the cosmetic effect of this approach was better than that of ETBAA in the early postoperative period. TOETVA for benign thyroid nodules is safe and feasible. However, there are disadvantages with TOETVA, such as a long surgical period. More cases and further research are needed to delve further into this approach.

Purpose: To study the effect of budesonide aerosol inhalation on postoperative complications and foreign-body sensation in the throat of patients who underwent goiter resection.Methods: One hundred and twenty patients who underwent goiter resection at The Affiliated Hospital of Putian University (Fujian, China) from January 2019 to January 2020 were included in the study, and then equally and randomly assigned to groups A and B. During the perioperative period, group A patients were given budesonide aerosol inhalation, while group B patients received aerosol inhalation of equivalent volume of normal salineectively. Postoperative complication rate (CR), complication pain scores, scores on mucosal response in the throat, and scores on foreign body sensation in the throat were determined for both groups.Results: Postoperative complications in patients were hoarseness, sore throat and cough. Group A had significantly lower postoperative CR, lower complication pain scores, lower scores on mucosal response in the throat, and lower scores on foreign body sensation in the throat, when compared to group B (p < 0.001).Conclusion: Budesonide aerosol inhalation in patients who underwent goiter resection is effective in relieving throat injury from general anesthesia, minimizing likelihood of postoperative complications, and easing foreign-body sensation in the throat. Thus, this strategy may be suitable for the management of postoperative complications.