Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2026
Transoral Robotic Total Thyroidectomy and Bilateral Central Regional Lymph Node Dissection for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma
Published on: September 15, 2023
Minimally invasive video-assisted thyroidectomy: four-year experience of a single team in a General Surgery Unit
G Scerrino1, N C Paladino, V Di Paola
1Unit of General and Emergency Surgery Department of General and Emergency and Transplant Surgery (GENURTO), "P. Giaccone" University Hospital, Palermo, Italy - giuditta.morfino@gmail.com.
Aim:
Minimally invasive video-assisted thyroidectomy (MIVAT) is a surgical technique that has showed increasingly good results, particularly in endocrine surgery centers. The aim of this prospective, non-randomized study was to evaluate feasibility, advantages and critical aspects of MIVAT in a general surgery unit.
Methods:
Two hundred twenty-four patients underwent total thyroidectomy for benign thyroid disease from May, 2008 to April, 2011. They were divided into two groups: one underwent conventional thyroidectomy (CT), and the other underwent MIVAT. The inclusion criteria were thyroid volume ≤35 mL and main nodule size ≤35 mm. For each patient, socio-demographic variables, hospitalization data and outcome measures (complication rate, operating time, post-operative pain, observer and patient scar assessment scale [OSAS and PSAS, respectively]) were collected. Multivariate regression analyses were done to assess the principal covariates affecting these outcome measures.
Results:
There were 125 MIVATs and 99 CTs performed. The two groups were characterized by difference in age (38.4 vs. 50.9 years) and thyroid volume (18.6 vs. 23.3 mL). OSAS/PSAS scores were statistically significant in the MIVAT group (P<0.001 and P<0.001, respectively) even after adjusting for age and thyroid volume. Complication rate was similar in the two groups.
Conclusion:
MIVAT significantly decreased postoperative pain and improved cosmetic results. It can be performed in younger patients and in all cases in which there is a clear indication for the procedure. Its advantages were confirmed in a general surgery unit where correct indications were followed.
