Background and purpose: Thyroid cancer is a common malignant tumor of endocrine system. Radical surgery is an important method for the treatment of thyroid cancer

especially differentiated thyroid cancer. It is of great significance to protect parathyroid gland during operation. In previous studies

rapid detection of intraoperative puncture can accurately identify intraoperative suspicious lymph nodes

which is helpful to the protection and in situ preservation of parathyroid. The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility of the fine needle puncture Diff-Quik staining for the differentiation and protection of parathyroid glands in thyroid carcinoma surgery. Methods: Clinical data of 40 papillary thyroid cancer patients at Pudong Hospital of Shanghai between Oct. 2018 and Jan. 2020 were collected. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. In the control group

the parathyroid glands were identified with the naked eye by the chief surgeon according to experience. In the experimental group

if suspicious parathyroid gland was encountered during lymph node dissection

the surgeon in charge of the operation performed fine needle puncture on the suspected parathyroid judged by naked eyes

made cell smear

and immediately performed Diff-Quik staining. Blood calcium and parathyroid hormone (PTH) of all the patients were measured on the second day after operation. Blood calcium and PTH were followed up at 1

3 and 6 months after operation. Results: Using Diff-Quik staining method to quickly diagnose parathyroid glands from the pathological level

could avoid miscutting the parathyroid glands during the operation

and the accuracy rate of parathyroid gland preservation in situ reached 100.0%

which was higher than the accuracy rate (88.2%) of the naked eye to identify parathyroid glands. There was no significant difference in the blood c

alcium and PTH levels between the patients of the two groups before the operation

3 months and 6 months after operation (P

1a

=0.076

P

2a

=0.088

P

1b

=0.070

P

2b

=0.082); the patients of the two groups were 2 days after the operation and 1 month after the operation. The blood calcium and PTH levels of the patients were lower than those before the operation

the differences were statistically significant (P

3a

=0.001

P

4a

=0.006

P

3b

=0.007

P

4b

=0.016). The blood calcium and PTH levels of the experimental group were higher than those of the control group 2 days

1 month and 3 months after operation (P

5a

=0.001

P

6a

=0.017

P

5b

=0.032

P

6b

=0.045). The blood calcium and PTH levels of the control group before and 6 months after the operation were compared with the experimental group

and the differences were not statistically significant (P

7a

=0.802

P

8a

=0.675

P

7b

=0.857

P

8b

=0.696). Conclusion: The fine needle puncture Diff-Quik staining could improve the accuracy and specificity of parathyroid differentiation and achieve parathyroid protection.