The safety of video assisted minimal invasive thyroidectomy in selected patients

Abstract

Objective: In thyroid surgery, conventional techniques have been replaced by minimally invasive procedures in proper cases, recently. In this study, the outcomes of patients who underwent video assisted minimally invasive thyroidectomy were presented and were compared with the outcomes of conventional thyroidectomy cases. Material and Methods: Twenty-six patients who underwent video assisted minimally invasive thyroidectomy and 92 patients who underwent conventional thyroidectomy were included in the current analysis. Completion thyroidectomy and/or neck dissection cases were excluded. Specimen volume, operation time, postoperative complications and incision lengths were compared. Results: Distribution of age, sex, duration of operation and the types of operation between groups were similar. While 17 patients (65.4%) in Group 1 were operated for hyperthyroidism, the most frequent operation indication was multinodular goiter (compression-cosmetic) in Group 2 (p<0.001). Incision length was significantly lower in Group 1 (2.08±0.27 cm vs. 4.38±0.83 cm; p<0.001) and specimen volume was significantly higher in Group 2 (32.30±4.30 ml vs. 89.30±45.06 mL; p<0.001). Morbidity was similar among groups except for temporary hypocalcaemia, which was significantly higher in Group 1 (30.8% vs. 13.0%; p=0.042). Conclusion: Video assisted thyroidectomy seems to be a safe surgical method in proper cases. © 2012 by Türkiye Klinikleri.