Robotic Thyroidectomy Decreases Postoperative Pain Compared With Conventional Thyroidectomy

This retrospective study compared postoperative pain between patients undergoing open thyroidectomy (OT) and bilateral axillo-breast approach (BABA) robotic thyroidectomy (RT).

We analyzed the electronic medical records of 1269 patients who underwent OT or RT at Chung-Ang University Hospital between January 1, 2010 and April 30, 2016. On the basis of the surgical procedure performed, patients were categorized into an OT (n=1128) and a BABA RT (BRT) group (n=141). On the basis of covariates, patients in these groups were matched using propensity score matching (n=86 in each group).

After propensity score matching, no intergroup differences were observed in the covariates. The visual analogue scale scores for pain on postoperative day 0 were lower in the BRT than in the OT group (2.57±0.95 vs. 2.28±0.95, P=0.040). However, no statistically significant differences were observed in the use of rescue analgesics, the numerical rating scale score for nausea, and the use of rescue antiemetics.

Pain on postoperative day 0 was lesser in the BRT than in the OT group. Similarly, the severity of nausea was lesser in the BRT group, despite longer operation time and broad dissection performed for docking the robotic arms.