Remote Access Surgery for Thyroid Disease

Abstract

There is continued demand for scarless or hidden-scar extracervical surgery for thyroid disease. This article reviews the most commonly embraced remote access approaches to the thyroid compartment. After initial enthusiasm, the trend towards remote access thyroid surgery has been tempered. Preference in the USA is given to techniques involving familiar cervical dissection planes. Extracervical remote access thyroid surgery is generally not considered to be minimally invasive surgery. Remote access thyroid surgery may be offered to a special subset of patients with high motivation towards absence of a visible cervical scar. The procedure should probably be done in specialized centers where adequate volumes to develop and maintain competence can be achieved by high volume surgeons to develop and maintain competence.