Because of variation of the position of the parathyroid glands and their fragile supplying blood vessels, and they are similar to fat granule or lymph nodes, it is easy to accidentally resect them or destroy their blood supply during surgery for thyroid cancer with central neck dissection, leading to postoperative hypoparathyroidism that seriously affects the patient's quality of life. How to identify parathyroid injury and protect the parathyroid function are major problems of concern of thyroid surgeons. Routine parathyroid autotransplant for preventing hypoparathyroidism during central neck dissection is still controversial. Is the use of nano-carbon of significance for avoiding parathyroid injury? Here, the authors address the above issues to provide reference on how to identify parathyroid injury and protect parathyroid function during central neck dissection.