Abstract
The thyroid gland is rich in lymph channels, and thyroid cancer frequently metastasizes to cervical lymph nodes. There are two main lymph channels, superior and inferior, from the thyroid gland to the deep cervical lymph nodes. However, it has not yet been clarified as to whether the lymph channels run anterior or posterior to the carotid vessels.
We treated three patients with advanced thyroid cancer and found that the lymph node metastases were located in a continuous chain from the thyroid gland to the inferior deep cervical lymph nodes. The lymph node metastases proceeded along the recurrent nerve, passed posterior to the common carotid artery and reached the inferior deep cervical lymph nodes.
Thus, the main lymph channel from the thyroid gland to the inferior deep cervical lymph nodes seems to pass posterior to the common carotid artery. Therefore, lymph node dissection must be done thoroughly in this region.
