Sohee Lee, MD, Cho Rok Lee, MD, Seulkee Park, MD, Haiyoung Son, MD, Jung Woo Kim, MD, Sang-Wook Kang, MD, Jong Ju Jeong, MD, Kee-Hyun Nam, MD, Woong Youn Chung, MD, Cheong Soo Park, MD
Department of Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine
Introduction
With the application of da Vinci robot system, surgeons can complete a secure thyroidectomy without a noticeable scar in the neck. The aim of this study is to compare the surgical completeness of transaxillary robotic thyroidectomy(RT) with conventional open procedure(OT) in papillary thyroid cancer(PTC) patients.
Methods and procedures
From April 2009 through January, 2011, 71 patients with PTC underwent bilateral total thyroidectomy with central node dissection at the Department of surgery of Yonsei University Health System. All patients performed 30mci radioactive iodine(RAI) ablation and diagnsotic RAI scan after ablation. We compared the patient’s clinicopathologic characteristics, and surgical completeness between two groups prospectively.
Results
Thirty-seven patients were OT and 34 were RT. Mean age was significantly yonger in RT. Tumor size, the frequency of capsular invasion, multifocality, bilaterality and central nodal metastasis showed no differences between two groups. Stage III was more frequent in OG due to different age spectrum. There was no significant difference in number of retrieved central node, and the incidence of postoperative complications. In terms of surgical completeness, there was no significant difference in RAI uptake ratio in both 30mci RAI ablation and diagnostic scan between two groups. In terms of serum Tg level, both TSH-suppressed and TSH-stimulated Tg showed no significant differences between two groups.
Conclusions
Transaxillary robotic thyroidectomy can be done as effective and the results are as complete as conventional open total thyroidectomy in papillary thyroid cancer patients.
Session: Podium Presentation
Program Number: S032