Clinical evaluation of gasless endoscopic thyroid surgery.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the feasibility of gasless endoscopic thyroid surgery becoming a standard thyroid operation.


METHODS
We retrospectively examined the surgical results of 191 patients who underwent thyroid operations at our hospital between December 1999 and June 2003. We also conducted a survey based on a questionnaire sent to 150 patients who underwent thyroid surgery between December 1999 and September 2002.


RESULTS
Although gasless endoscopic thyroid surgery took significantly longer to perform than conventional open surgery, the postoperative stay was significantly shorter and patients had fewer complaints about their surgical scar.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that although there are some challenges to overcome, especially the long operative time, gasless endoscopic thyroid surgery could become a standard procedure.
Inukai
Michio
M
Department of Surgery, National Okayama Medical Center, 1711-1 Tamasu, Okayama 701-1195, Japan.
Usui
Yoshiyuki
Y
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005740:Gases; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods; D011336:Probability; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000473:pathology*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D020535:Video-Assisted Surgery / Q000379:methods
D005740:Gases