Abstract:Objective To investigate the clinical application of multi-functional and modified neck lymphadenectomy for surgical treatment of cN1b differentiated thyroid carcinoma. Methods Fifty patients with differentiated thyroid cancer who were admitted into our hospital from May 2012 to January 2017 were randomly divided into observation group (n?=?25) and control group (n?=?25). The patients in observation group had multi-functional neck lymphadenectomy while patients in control group received modified neck lymphadenectomy. All patients were followed up for 6 months. The cure rate, relapse rate, quality of life, difficulty of raising the shoulder, pharyngeal fistula, neck deformity, numbness around the skin, and occurrence of surgical complications were recorded. Results No obvious difference in cure rate, recurrence rate, incidence of complications such as shoulder lifting difficulty and neck deformation were identified between two groups (P?>?0.05). Patients in observation group experienced increased levels of total score of quality of life and decreased incidence of complications such as edema and numbness of surrounding skin when compared with control group (P?0.05). Conclusions Multi-functional neck lymphadenectomy exerts better quality of life and less peripheral paralysis without increasing risk of relapse rate and are worthy of clinical promotion.