Indications and technique for transoral thyroid gland and parathyroid gland surgery

Abstract

The conventional Kocher collar incision is the standard access to the thyroid and parathyroid glands. Although the incision length has been significantly shortened in recent years with this approach, there is increasing interest among patients in asurgical technique without visible scars in the décolleté. Transoral endoscopic thyroid gland surgery via the vestibular approach (TOETVA) is amodern technique that can be learned relatively quickly and leaves no visible scars because it is carried out exclusively through anatural orifice (natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery, NOTES). For retrieval of larger specimens, the transoral approach can be combined with aretroauricular access and thus covers alarger range of indications. The indications must be strictly followed, analogous to conventional surgery. Once the transoral access has been established, the operation is carried out as in open surgery but strictly from cranial to caudal. The classical complications are comparable to the results of conventional surgery. Specific complications include perioral, mandibular or cervical dysesthesia and hypesthesia.