BACKGROUND: Surgical management is often the mainstay treatment for thyroid nodules. In the last several decades, a tremendous wave of interest has grown regarding
the effect of the cosmetic outcomes of this surgery on quality of life. Here, we share our past five years’ experience in transoral robotic thyroidectomy (TORT) and transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy (TOET).
METHODS: This retrospective study (n = 30) was designed to include patients who underwent TORT under the Si/Xi system and other consecutive cases who underwent TOET under 2D or 3D views from April 2016 to March 2021.
RESULTS: All 30 female patients underwent successful operations with 3 intraoral ports without additional neck or axillary incisions. Except in cases of bilateral surgery, no drainage tube was placed for most unilateral surgeries. One patient had temporary vocal fold paralysis after surgery, and only two had complications involving anterior cervical hematoma, which improved after conservative treatment. Two patients in the 2D group lost more than 200 mL of blood during the operation. The postoperative pathology reported that three patients had papillary thyroid microcarcinoma, one had papillary carcinoma, and the rest were mostly nodular goiters.
CONCLUSIONS: In our study, although all three groups have low postoperative complications, the 3D TOET and TORT seem to be the better options because of a high-resolution and three-dimensional view and better identification of vessels and the recurrent laryngeal nerve. (J Taiwan Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2022; 57:208-220)
