[Sutureless thyroidectomy with local anesthesia plus conscious sedation. Two clinical cases]

We proposed a modification of thyroid surgery and have reported two operations carried out with sutureless surgery and local anesthesia. Our study setting was Unit 305 of the General Hospital of Mexico in Mexico City. With regard to study design, two patients are presented with sutureless thyroid surgery in what we believe is the first publication of its kind in Mexico and probably the first publication in the world that reports the combination of both sutureless technique and local anesthesia.

Patient number 1 is 41 years of age with a 10-year history. Fine-needle biopsy denoted nodular goiter but definitive diagnosis was Hashimoto thyroiditis, for which we performed subtotal resection. Patient number 2 is 46 years of age, and has a history of 1 year of thyroid mass; final diagnosis was colloid goiter. Lobectomy and isthmus resection was done. We proceeded under local anesthesia plus sedation with the patient conscious, in combination with no stitches for hemostasia using a tissue-sealing system ligasure.

Both patients had good results without postoperative complications. Surgical time was 120 min in first case and 71 min for the second. Patient 1 had transient hoarseness for 3 weeks, and the healing was spontaneous.

Outcome was adequate in these two cases with local anesthesia and no stitches.