Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 14, 2026
Transoral Endoscopic Thyroidectomy Vestibular Approach for Thyroid Lobectomy
Published on: May 12, 2023
Influence of change in surgical practice for benign thyroid disease on postsurgical outcome-Single-center experience
Urte Kunz-Zurbuchen1, Heinz Johannes Buhr1, Hubert G Hotz2
1Department of General, Visceral and Vascular Surgery, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany.
Purpose:
To evaluate the rate of surgical complications during the change from subtotal resection to hemithyroidectomy or thyroidectomy over a period of 17 years.
Methods:
All operations for benign goiter at our hospital were analyzed for the periods 1996-2002 (Group 1) and 2003-2012 (Group 2). The groups were compared for recurrent laryngeal nerve damage, hypocalcemia, and other surgical complications directly postoperatively.
Results:
In total, 1462 patients were operated on for goiter between 1996 and 2012. There were 1219 patients who underwent a primary thyroid operation, whereas 50 patients had surgery for recurrence. Postoperative histology revealed thyroid cancer in 193 patients (13.2%). In Group 1, 42.7% of all operated lobes were performed as lobectomies and 57.3% as subtotal resections; in Group 2, 74.4% were performed as lobectomies and 25.6% as subtotal resections. No differences were found for reduced vocal cord function (2.4% vs. 1.9%, p = 0.746) and recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis in the postoperative laryngoscopy (2.9% vs. 1.8%, p = 0.675). Postoperative hypoparathyroidism was detected in 13.66% in Group 1 and in 19.80% in Group 2 after bilateral resections (p = 0.037). There was no difference in the rate of reoperations for cancer between both groups (43.4% vs. 52.1%, p = 0.182).
Conclusion:
Surgical practice changed from subtotal to lobectomies for benign goiter over a period of 17 years without change in laryngeal nerve damage but with increasing rates of postoperative hypocalcemia.
