Pure transoral robotic thyroidectomy; institutional adaptation and early results from a tertiary endocrine surgery centre

Abstract

Novel thyroidectomy techniques have been described to minimize the visible scar. Hereby, we aim to present our experience with transoral robotic thyroidectomy (TORT) without axillary access. Between August 2018 and March 2019, six eligible patients were enrolled to undergo TORT. Procedures were performed by using the Da Vinci Xi platform under intermittent intraoperative nerve monitoring. All patients were female, and the mean age was 40.0 ± 14.4 years. Three patients underwent total thyroidectomy, and lobectomy was performed for the remaining three patients. In one patient, the procedure was converted to conventional open thyroidectomy due to bleeding. The mean docking time, console time and total operative time were 22.8 ± 5.2 min, 118.5 ± 48.7 min and 218.29 ± 50.6 min for total thyroidectomy and 21.8 ± 4.1 min, 68.6 ± 6.1 min and 177.6 ± 15.1 min for lobectomy, respectively. All patients were discharged uneventfully. Pure TORT is a safe procedure, when performed in carefully selected patients by experienced surgeons, but further prospective studies with larger number of patients are required.