ObjectiveTo investigate the value of carbon nanoparticle adopted in reoperation for thyroid cancer recurrence. MethodsFrom July to November of 2015, patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer recurrence in department of Thyroid & Parathyroid surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University were enrolled in the research. All enrollment patients underwent carbon nanoparticles location guided by ultrasonography before reoperation. Relative data about surgery and location were analyzed retrospectively. ResultsTwenty-two patients were enrolled in the research. Mean operation time was (60.45±12.91) minutes. During surgery, a total of 405 (average 18.4) lymph nodes were harvested, and the staining rate was 71.9% (291/405). The pathological examination showed that there was a significant difference in the positive rate between carbon nanoparticles stained lymph nodes (45.0%, 131/291) and non-stained lymph nodes (5.3%, 6/114), P < 0.001. In addition, the positive rate in non-targeted stained lymph nodes was 30.2% (62/205). By contrast, it was 5.3% (6/114) in non-targeted non-stained lymph nodes. The difference showed significant significance (P < 0.001). ConclusionsAdoption of carbon nanoparticles in reoperation for thyroid cancer, which improves efficiency of dissection for the non-palpable lymph nodes metastasis, is worth generalizing in clinical practice.