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Updated: Jun 21, 2026
Minimal Invasive Resection of Large Retrosternal Thyroid Goiter
Published on: September 20, 2024
A critical analysis of 33 patients with substernal goiter surgically treated by neck incision
Murilo Catafesta Das Neves1, Marcello Rosano, Flávio Carneiro Hojaij
1Head and Neck Surgery Program, UNIFESP.
Unlabelled:
The possibility of needing a combined access, with neck and chest incisions makes the treatment of substernal goiter a challenge both in the pre-op and the intraoperative. We hereby, discuss a standardization of the surgical technique to minimize the need for a chest approach, making the substernal goiter a surgically treatable disease, through a single neck incision, and with low indices of complication.
Aim:
To assess the substernal goiter surgically approach through a neck incision and to analyze the surgical complications.
Materials And Methods:
We carried out a historical cohort by retrospective analysis of the charts of patients submitted to thyroidectomy, and 33 of them (10.4%) had substernal goiter.
Results:
All 33 patients were surgically treated through a neck incision without the need for sternotomy. We did not observe definitive lesions in the inferior laryngeal nerve or definitive hypoparathyroidism. Only 2 patients had recurrent nerve paresis; and 2 patients were re-operated because of a neck hematoma.
Conclusion:
Patients with substernal goiter can be safely treated surgically through a single neck incision, bearing low complication rates.
