The significance of level VI compartment dissection for the treatment of papillary thyroid carcinoma        ZHANG Hao. Department of General Surgery, the First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, China
Corresponding author: ZHANG Hao，E-mail: haozhang@mail.cmu.edu.cn
Abstract    The level VI compartment of the neck is the most common site of local metastasis for papillary thyroid carcinoma. Level VI compartment dissection is routinely performed on cN1 patients, but whether cN0 patients need routine level VI compartment dissection remains controversial. A lot of studies have indicated that the significance of level VI compartment dissection in surgical operation for cN0 papillary thyroid carcinoma. Routine level VI compartment dissection may be helpful to remove occult level VI lymph nodes metastasis, reduce the recurrence and improve the survival of papillary thyroid carcinoma patients，reduce the rate of later cervical nodes metastasis, has a certain potential predictive value for the recurrence of papillary thyroid carcinoma, staging, post-operative comprehensive treatment and follow-up. Meanwhile, it can also avoid the damage of recurrent laryngeal nerve in re-dissection; reduce the need for reoperative dissections and the complication of surgery. Therefore, we advocate that the level VI compartment dissection could be performed as routine for the treatment of cN0 papillary thyroid carcinoma and complication could be decreased by improving surgical skills.