title: Comparative study of a gasless transaxillary approach versus a bilateral axillo-breast approach for endoscopic thyroidectomy in a single institute.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gasless transaxillary approach (TA) and the bilateral axillo-breast approach (BABA) are 2 distinctive approaches for endoscopic thyroidectomy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare these 2 procedures.
  
  
  METHODS
  From May 2008 to July 2011, we performed endoscopic hemithyroidectomy via gasless TA (83 cases) and BABA (45 cases). The following variables were evaluated: operation time, postoperative pain score, drainage amount, drainage day, postoperative complications, and cosmetic satisfaction score.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences between the 2 approaches in terms of clinicopathologic characteristics and surgical outcomes, except for postoperative pain and cosmetic satisfaction. As for postoperative pain and cosmetic satisfaction, the gasless TA group complained of less pain and the BABA group had a better cosmetic outcome.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings will contribute to providing guidelines for the choice of surgeons between gasless TA and BABA techniques for endoscopic thyroidectomy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Myung-Chul
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hoon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Ik Joon
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Byeong-Cheol
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Guk-Haeng
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001365:Axilla / Q000601:surgery; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D016063:Blood Loss, Surgical; D001940:Breast / Q000601:surgery; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005740:Gases; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D061646:Operative Time; D010149:Postoperative Pain; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D005740:Gases
keywords: bilateral axillo-breast approach; endoscopic thyroidectomy; endoscopy; gasless transaxillary approach; thyroid