Robotic surgery for thyroid disease

Abstract

While conventional open thyroidectomy techniques are the most widely performed thyroid operation, they produce an anterior neck scar that may be difficult to conceal. The endoscopic thyroidectomy was developed to decrease the cosmetic impact on the patient and has the advantage of reducing the incidence of anterior neck hypoesthesia and paresthesia. However, this procedure has some drawbacks, which motivated surgeons to develop a new operation method. Robotic thyroidectomy is a relatively new approach for treating differentiated thyroid cancer. Over the last few years, robotic thyroidectomies have become more common. Robotic thyroidectomies are a feasible, safe alternative for managing thyroid disease that has remarkable functional benefits beyond those of conventional open methods. The applications for robotic thyroidectomy have expanded to include increasingly advanced cases, which will consequently change the thyroid surgery paradigm in the future.