Central compartment neck dissection for thyroid cancer: a surgical technique.

Several professional societies have in the past few years joined forces to standardize and define terminology for central compartment neck dissection, with the objective of improving communication among professionals and encouraging a more uniform surgical approach to neck nodes. Precisely defining and describing a technique has the advantage of providing a basis for communication and for discussion. A basic technique should be reproducible with low morbidity and teachable to surgeons in training. We herein describe a basic technique for bilateral central compartment neck dissection for thyroid cancer.