[Endoscopic thyroidectomy with 150 cases].
OBJECTIVE
To discuss the method, the advantages and disadvantages of endoscopic thyroidectomy.


METHODS
Endoscopic thyroidectomy via areola of breasts approach was performed in 150 patients, including 41 cases of thyroid adenoma, 64 cases of nodular goiter, 40 cases of Graves' disease, and 5 cases of thyroid carcinoma.


RESULTS
The endoscopic thyroidectomy was successfully carried out in 144 cases, including tumor dissection in 32 cases, one lobe partial thyroidectomy in 54 cases, two lobe partial thyroidectomy in 19 cases, subtotal thyroidectomy in 37 cases of Graves' disease, and radical thyroidectomy in 2 cases of thyroid carcinoma. The operative time length ranged from 50 to 270 min (mean 80 min). There were no complications such as damage to recurrent laryngeal nerve or parathyroid glands. Postoperative hospital stay ranged from 3 to 7 days (mean 4 days). The post-operative following-up for 1 approximately 13 months indicated that all the patients were satisfied with the cosmetic results and the same curative effects as conventional surgery were obtained. However, the operations were converted into open surgery in 6 cases.


CONCLUSIONS
Endoscopic thyroidectomy is a safe and effective method of thyroid surgery. Since all the minimal incisions are on concealed parts of the body, the obvious cosmetic effect of this method is guaranteed.
Department of Laparoscopic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China.
Cun-Chuan
CC
Wang
Jun
J
Chen
You-Zhu
YZ
Hu
Dong-Bo
DB
Wu
Yi-Hao
YH
Xu
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004724:Endoscopy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006111:Graves Disease / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome