Transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy vestibular approach versus conventional open thyroidectomy for the treatment of benign thyroid tumours: A prospective cohort study.

INTRODUCTION: Thyroid tumours are a common condition and open surgery is a conventional method for treating benign thyroid tumours when surgery is indicated. In this study, we evaluate the outcomes of benign thyroid tumour treatment using transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy via vestibular approach (TOETVA) and compare the results with those of conventional open thyroidectomy (COT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study between 100 patients who underwent TOETVA and 100 who underwent COT surgery for benign diseases from June 2018 to December 2021 in our hospital. Outcomes between the two groups, including post-operative complications, operative time and length of stay, were compared. RESULTS: The surgical time in the TOETVA group was significantly longer than in the COT group. The operative time of lobectomy in the TOETVA and COT groups was 77.5 ± 13.3 and 51.5 ± 4.2 min, respectively, with a P < 0.001. The operative time of total thyroidectomy in the TOETVA and COT groups was 108.1 ± 7.0 and 65.0 ± 4.1 min, respectively, with a P < 0.001. There was no difference in post-operative length of stay between the two groups. In TOETVA group, there were no patients who converted to open surgery. Amongst all 200 patients in the study, there were no cases of post-operative bleeding. The transient hypoparathyroidism rate after surgery in the TOETVA and COT groups was 3% and 2%, respectively, with no statistically significant difference (P = 0.651). Similarly, the transient recurrent laryngeal nerve injury rate showed no difference between the two groups, with rates of 5% and 4% in the TOETVA and COT groups, respectively (P = 0.733). There were no cases of post-operative infection in either group in our study. At 3 months postoperatively, the cosmetic satisfaction were significantly higher in the endoscopic groups than in the conventional group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: TOETVA is a safe and effective method, with a low complication rate and optimal aesthetic results compared to traditional surgery to treat benign thyroid tumours.

Modified Radical Neck Dissection for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma via a Combined Endoscopy Approach: The Transoral Approach and the Chest Approach.

BACKGROUND: Recently, modified radical neck dissection (MRND) for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) has been performed by the transoral endoscopic approach.1 However, dissection of level II lymph nodes using only the transoral approach is highly difficult because of the inadequate axis of surgical view. Hence, we decided to combine the transoral and chest approaches to perform MRND. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first video case of MRND using the combined approach. PATIENT AND METHODS: A 35-year-old woman was diagnosed with cT1aN1bM0 right PTC (metastatic to right level III lymph nodes). The patient underwent total thyroidectomy, bilateral central neck dissection (CND), and right MRND via a combined endoscopic approach: the transoral and chest approaches. Total thyroidectomy and bilateral central neck dissection were performed via the transoral approach, similar to prior studies.2-6 The chest approach can help the surgeon to perform level II and the transoral approach was used to dissect the lymph node of levels III and IV. RESULTS: The total time for total thyroidectomy, bilateral CND, and right MRND was 190 min. The time for MRND was 90 min. The number of harvested lymph nodes were 14 in the right lateral compartments, and the number of metastatic lymph nodes were 2 in the lateral compartments. There were no major postoperative complications. The patient was completely satisfied with the cosmetic result. CONCLUSIONS: The combined approach of the transoral and chest approaches was sufficient to perform total thyroidectomy and MRND for levels II, III, and IV.

Transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy vestibular approach as a novel technique for pediatric populations: Results from a single surgeon.

Background: The transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy vestibular approach (TOETVA) is increasingly being adopted worldwide because of its many advantages. However, there are few reports on the effectiveness and safety of TOETVA in children. In this study, we report the results of the application of TOETVA on 27 pediatric patients in Vietnam. To the best of our knowledge, this is also the largest sample size of the TOETVA technique performed by a single surgeon on pediatric patients worldwide. Patients and methods: From June 2020 to February 2022, we performed TOETVA on 27 pediatric patients (≤ 18 years old). The outcomes of the procedure were retrospectively reviewed. Results: Our study was conducted on 27 pediatric patients, of whom 24 were female (88.9%). The mean age was 16.3 ± 2 (range 10-18). Fifteen patients had benign thyroid nodules with a mean nodule size of 31.6 ± 7.1 (range 20-50mm), and 12 patients had papillary thyroid carcinoma with a mean nodule size of 10.2 ± 5.6 (range 4-19mm). All 27 patients underwent successful TOETVA without any conversion to open surgery. The 15 patients with benign thyroid nodules had lobectomies with a mean operative time of 83.3 ± 10.5 (range 60-105 minutes). Among the 12 patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer, ten had a lobectomy, isthmusectomy, and central neck dissection, with a mean operative time of 89.8 ± 5.7 (range 80-100 minutes). The other two underwent total thyroidectomy with central lymph node dissection with a mean operative time of 132.5 minutes. The mean hospital stay was 4.7 ± 0.9 (range 3-7 days). No patient had permanent complications, such as hypocalcemia, recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, or mental nerve injury. The rates of temporary recurrent laryngeal nerve injury and mental nerve injury were 3.7% and 11.1% respectively. Conclusions: TOETVA may be a feasible and safe surgical method for children with thyroid disease. However, we recommend that only high-volume thyroid surgeons with experience in TOETVA should perform TOETVA on the pediatric population.

Three-Port Transoral Robotic Thyroidectomy in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Although transoral thyroidectomy has become popular in thyroid surgery, transoral robotic thyroidectomy (TORT) has only been successfully applied in a very small number of medical centers worldwide.[1,2,3,4,5] In this video, we show a three-port TORT without an axillary incision for papillary thyroid carcinoma. PATIENT AND METHODS: A 35-year-old female with cT1aN0M0 papillary thyroid carcinoma had a strong motivation to proceed with surgery but avoid external neck incisions. Thus, we decided to perform a hemithyroidectomy with isthmusectomy using a transoral robotic approach, employing the da Vinci Xi surgical system. RESULTS: The operation was completed successfully without conversion to open surgery. The working space creation time, docking time, and console time were 30 min, 40 min, and 130 min, respectively. The pathological results were papillary thyroid carcinoma with 6- and 5-mm tumors. The patient was discharged 4 days after surgery without any complications such as bleeding, infection, mental nerve damage, permanent hoarseness, or hypoparathyroidism. The patient was completely satisfied with the cosmetic result. CONCLUSION: Three-port TORT without an axillary incision is a promising approach with optimal cosmetic outcomes. For Vietnam, a developing country, success in the application of TORT using the new da Vinci Xi robotic platform for thyroid cancer is an important milestone in the development of thyroid surgery.

Prophylactic Central Neck Dissection to Improve Disease-Free Survival in Pediatric Papillary Thyroid Cancer.

Background: Pediatric PTC is a rare disease. Although, the prognosis is excellent and the mortality rate is low, the role of prophylactic central neck dissection is still the subject of debate. The aim was to evaluate both the role and safety of prophylactic central neck dissection (CND) in managing pediatric papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), especially in respect of disease-free survival (DFS). Patients and Methods: In this retrospective study, we collected 54 pediatric cN0 PTC patients (≤ 18 years of age) who were treated from January 2014 to January 2021 at a high-volume thyroid surgery center. Patients were divided into two groups based on the status of prophylactic CND. We analyzed the factors related to the clinicopathological features and recurrence of PTC in children. Results: Of the 54 cN0 patients, 35 underwent prophylactic CND and 19 patients did not undergo prophylactic CND. The two groups were similar in clinical and pathologic features, such as age, gender, tumor size, multifocal status, and follow-up time. The average DFS was 84.4 ± 2.7 months. Log-rank tests on Kaplan-Meier curves revealed that age, gender, tumor size, multifocality, and extrathyroid extension did not relate to DFS time. Furthermore, DFS time was not affected by the extent of thyroidectomy (p=0.07) or RAI treatment (p=0.21). Prophylactic CND was found to increase DFS time for pediatric patients with cN0 PTC (p = 0.003). There was no statistically significant difference in complications such as transient hypocalcemia (p=0.15) and transient recurrent laryngeal nerve injury (p=0.37) between the prophylactic CND group and the no-prophylactic CND group. Conclusion: Prophylactic CND was found to be associated with increased DFS and not with increased rates of complications after surgery.

Risk factors for lateral lymph node metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma in children.

INTRODUCTION: Lateral cervical lymph node metastases (LNM) for pediatric patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is a poor prognostic factor. We aimed to identify risk factors for lateral LNM. METHODS: This retrospective study had included 48 pediatric patients with papillary thyroid cancer underwent total thyroidectomy and central cervical lymphadenectomy at K hospital from 2016 to 2020. RESULTS: The number of patients in each T stage was as follows: 24 (50.0%) in stage 1, 9 (18.7%) in Stage 2, 8 (16.7%) in Stage 3, and 7 (14.6%) in Stage 4. Most of the patients had LNM with N1a and N1b rates of 83.3% and 62.5%, respectively. Lung metastases were observed at presentation in three patients (6.3%). Univariate analysis revealed that age (p = 0.021), male (p = 0.011), tumor size > 10 mm (p = 0.002), multifocality (p < 0.001), extrathyroidal extension (p = 0.001) and central LNM (p < 0.001) were factors that increase the risk of metastasis to lateral LNM. CONCLUSION: Approximately 62.5% of pediatric patients with PTC exhibited lateral LNM at the time of diagnosis. Our study confirmed that multifocality, maximum tumor diameter, extrathyroidal extension and central LNM were independent risk factors for lateral LNM in pediatric PTC. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV.

Bilateral Central Neck Dissection via Transoral Approach in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The transoral endoscopic vestibular approach (TOETVA) for thyroidectomy is gaining popularity (Russell et al. in Thyroid 28(7):825-829, 2018; Le et al. in Surg Laparosc Endosc Percutan Tech 30(3):209-213, 2020; Liao et al. in Laryngoscope 130(6):1603-1608, 2020). TOETVA has been utilized successfully in performing thyroidectomy, parathyroidectomy, and neck dissection, via both endoscopic and robotic techniques (Razavi et al. in Head Neck 40(10):2246-2253, 2018; Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 159(4):625-629, 2018; Ngo et al. in J ENT, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145561320943358 ; Ann Surg Oncol 28(5):2766, 2021). In this video, we show bilateral central neck dissection via transoral approach in papillary thyroid carcinoma. PATIENT AND METHODS: A 37-year-old female with no significant medical history was diagnosed pT3bN0M0 intraoperatively with the tumor having slightly invaded the strap muscle. Thus, we decided to perform total thyroidectomy with bilateral central neck dissection via transoral approach. METHODS: Prelaryngeal dissection: in the prelaryngeal compartment, soft tissue containing these lymph nodes was intimately associated with the pyramidal lobe. Right paratracheal dissection: fibrofatty tissue was dissected off the prevertebral fascia and the trachea with preservation of right parathyroid glands. Pretracheal lymph nodes were removed with paratracheal dissection. Left paratracheal dissection: the lymphatic tissue was then dissected off the prevertebral and esophageal musculature and the trachea after identifying the left parathyroid glands. Finally, bilateral central neck dissection was finished with preservation of the nerve and parathyroid glands. RESULTS: The operation was completed successfully without conversion to open surgery. The operative time for central neck dissection was 20 min. There were nine harvested lymph nodes in the central compartments, while there were two metastatic lymph nodes of papillary thyroid carcinoma with 3 × 3 mm maximal dimension. There were no major postoperative complications. CONCLUSION: Central neck dissection via TOETVA is a safe and feasible method in selected patients.

Transoral Endoscopic Modified Radical Neck Dissection for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Recently, transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy via the vestibular approach (TOETVA) has become popular worldwide.1-3 After controlling for the technique, the authors used the transoral endoscopic approach to modified radical neck dissection (MRND) for papillary thyroid carcinoma with clinically positive lymph nodes in the lateral compartments. To the best of their knowledge, the authors report the first case of TOETVA for MRND. PATIENT: A 27-year-old woman had a diagnosis of cT1aN1bM0 right papillary thyroid carcinoma (metastatic to a small right level 4 lymph node). Therefore, total thyroidectomy, bilateral central neck dissection, and MRND of right levels 2, 3, and 4 were performed via the transoral endoscopic approach. METHODS: Total thyroidectomy and bilateral central lymph node dissections were performed based on the three-trocar Anuwong technique.4 Then, the fourth incision was made near the sixth teeth in the right oral vestibular area for insertion of the fourth 5-mm trocar, which was used to expose the lateral lymph compartment and to perform right MRND easily. RESULTS: The operation was completed successfully without conversion to open surgery. The total operative time was 170 min, and the operating time for MRND was 55 min. The numbers of harvested lymph nodes were 7 and 8 in the central and right lateral compartments, respectively. The numbers of metastatic lymph nodes were 2 and 1 in the central and lateral compartments, respectively. No major postoperative complications occurred. CONCLUSION: Transoral endoscopic MRND of levels 2, 3, and 4 can be feasible and safe for highly selected patients.