title: Gasless endoscopic surgery through the upper chest in treatment of thyroid tumor.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recently, there has been a surge of interest in minimally invasive techniques with endoscope in thyroid surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of a scarless neck surgery under endoscopy for the treatment of thyroid tumor and to observe the results of this procedure.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 68 patients (64 women and 4 men) underwent the surgery. Their ages ranged from 18 to 65 years, with a mean age of (34 ± 3) years. There were 64 cases of thyroid adenoma, and 4 cases of nodular goiter. An incision was made on the surface of the chest bone. The operation cavity was made by dragging the skin. Sixty-four patients underwent partial thyroid lobectomy, four patients underwent thyroid lobectomy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 68 cases showed healing in one stage. None of the cases showed paralysis of the recurrent laryngeal nerve or tumor recurrence within the next 2 to 60 months of follow-up. The patients experienced slight pain after the operation. The patients were satisfied with the cosmetic results of the surgery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The gasless endoscopic surgery through the upper chest, which was performed to treat thyroid tumor, did not leave any scar, and was easy to handle, and gave good cosmetic results.
authors: Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Affiliated Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100730, China.
authors: Ju-Gao
authors: JG
authors: Fang
authors: Ling
authors: L
authors: Feng
authors: Zhen-Kun
authors: ZK
authors: Yu
authors: Ping-Dong
authors: PD
authors: Li
authors: De-Min
authors: DM
authors: Han
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D013965:Thyroidectomy; D020535:Video-Assisted Surgery; D055815:Young Adult