Advocating the normalization of initial surgical treatment in differentiated thyroid cancer        LIU Yong-feng. Department of General Surgery, the First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, China
Abstract    The standardized initial surgical treatment is the key point to improve prognosis in differentiated thyroid cancer patients. For most patients with differentiated thyroid cancer, the smallest extent of excision should be thyroid lobectomy. The divergence is whether near-total or total thyroidectomy should be performed in all patients. Routine central-compartment neck dissection should be considered for patients with differentiated thyroid cancer. Lateral neck compartmental lymph node dissection should be performed for clinical N1 patients. Functional compartmental en-bloc dissection is favored over selective dissection (berry picking).Prophylactic lateral neck compartmental lymph node dissection is not recommended in clinical N0 patients. The protection of organ function should be stressed in differentiated thyroid cancer patients with organ invasion.