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Review
. 2022 Mar;13(1):191-198.
doi: 10.1007/s13193-021-01364-y. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Remote Access Thyroid Surgery: A Review of Literature

Akshay Kudpaje  1 , Anand Subash  1 , Narayana Subramaniam  2 , Carsten E Palme  3 , Vishal Rao Us  1 , Gururaj Arakeri  1   4
Affiliations
Review

Remote Access Thyroid Surgery: A Review of Literature

Akshay Kudpaje et al. Indian J Surg Oncol. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Since the first description of endoscopic thyroid lobectomy in 1997, a variety of techniques have been developed to avoid the visible cervical scar conventionally been associated with thyroidectomy. These "remote access" approaches, which typically use either endoscopic or robotic instrumentation, have successfully avoided the anterior neck scar, which has a measurable impact on the patient's quality of life (Graves and Suh Surgery 168(5):845-850, 2020; Sakorafas World J Surg 34(8):1793-1804, 2010). The main advantage of these techniques is better cosmesis compared to conventional transcervical approaches (Graves and Suh Surgery 168(5):845-850, 2020) However, these techniques have failed to gain widespread acceptance in the surgical community because of the technical challenges, scepticism about oncological safety and cost factors. This review presents an overview of the various methods of remote access thyroid surgery (RATS) and also evaluates the selection criteria, oncological efficacy, training requirements and key advantages of this technique.

Keywords: Endoscopic thyroidectomy; Minimal access surgery; Remote access surgery; Robotic surgery; Thyroid cancer; Thyroidectomy.

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