Transoral Endoscopic Thyroidectomy: A Systematic Review of the Practice So Far

Thyroid disease largely affects young females, but the incidence is also increasing among males. In an effort to avoid the scarring of the neck that is synonymous with conventional thyroidectomy, endoscopic techniques have been developed over the years. The transoral endoscopic approach is the latest of these innovations that promises a scarless surgical outcome. This review evaluates whether this technique is safe and feasible in live patients and outlines the outcomes in published literature so far.

PubMed, Medline, BioMed Central, Cochrane Library, OVID and Web of Science were systematically searched by using a Medical Subject Heading (MeSH)-optimized search strategy. The selection of papers followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines after setting strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. Sixteen studies were included in the final analysis.

This systematic review presents cases of 785 patients. Surgeons in 15 of the studies used a completely vestibular approach, whereas those in the remaining 2 used the floor of the mouth for primary access. Conversion to open surgery took place in 1.3%. In total, 4.3% of patients experienced transient laryngeal nerve palsy, whereas 0.1% had permanent recurrent incidences of the condition. Transient hypocalcemia occurred in 7.4% of cases, with no recorded permanent cases. Carbon dioxide embolism occurred in 0.6% of cases, and another 0.6% had a deep-seated neck infection. The complication rates within the review were deemed acceptable and the overall technique feasible. A prospective randomized controlled trial was proposed to compare this technique with conventional thyroidectomy.