Time trend analysis of thyroid cancer surgery in China: single institutional database analysis of 15,000 patients

PURPOSE: The institutional database of the Thyroid Surgery Division in China–Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University was queried to audit time trend patterns in thyroid cancer (TC) management between 2008 and 2017. METHODS: Retrospective longitudinal analysis. Clinicopathological features and treatment strategies were analyzed. Frequencies and multivariate tests were used to detect correlations. RESULTS: Clinical data were obtained from 15,000 TC patients (i.e., 71.3% of 21,044 operations). Papillary was the most common histological subtype (n = 14,916, 99%), and 76% were microcarcinomas. Stage I (95%) and low-risk patients (58%) were prevalent throughout the 10-year period. The trend for total thyroidectomy increased from 29.1% (2008–2012) to 67.9% (2013–2015), and then dropped to 48.6% (2016–2017). A total of 8827 (52%) patients received central lymph node dissection (CLND). The tendency for CLND increased from 15.7 to 86.4% during the 10-year period. While the trend of lateral lymph node dissection decreased from 71.3 to 13.3%. Radioactive iodine therapy was offered to 10% of patients (2008–2012), except for a low value (5.4%) in 2009, and then increased from 12.3% (2012) to 41.3% (2015), while decreased to 32.4% (2017). CONCLUSION: The surgical management of TC patients has undergone continuous changes over the past 10 years. The evolution from aggressive treatment to a more conservative approach has been constant. Our results suggest that the current surgical management approach for TC is adequate and in support of the published guidelines. Our findings warrant further investigation to determine the clinical implications of decision making for TC.