Robotic retroauricular thyroidectomy: initial experience from India

Abstract

Robotic thyroidectomy is getting accepted worldwide, but, majority of the literature is from South Korea. The purpose of this paper is to review the early experiences with robotic retroauricular (RA) thyroidectomy from India. The rationale for robotic thyroidectomy, its advantages and disadvantages are reviewed. The reasons for selecting the RA approach and the criteria used for selecting the patients are discussed. The early experience and outcomes of 29 patients, from three centres across India is presented.Robotic approaches score above endoscopic methods. RA approach may have some technical advantages for the head and neck surgeons. Sufficient cadaver and preclinical training should be undertaken. Standardized and formal teaching for robotic surgical skill is necessary. Case selection is important especially in the initial phases of the learning curve. Our early experience with robotic thyroidectomy was encouraging.

Robotic Retroauricular Thyroidectomy

“…The recurrent laryngeal nerve is identified within the tracheoesophageal groove. Finally, the relevant lobe of the thyroid is removed from the trachea by cutting the isthmus [3,5].…”

“…Robotic surgical techniques have advanced particularly rapidly in countries such as South Korea, Japan, and China, where there is considerable cultural pressure to reduce the scarring associated with head and neck surgery. This includes the development of novel Transaxillary, Transoral, and Retroauricular techniques [3,4]. Terris et al first described Robotic Retroauricular Thyroidectomy (RRT) in 2011, as 'robotic facelift thyroidectomy' [5].…”

Feasibility of robotic thyroidectomy via hairline incision using da Vinci single port system: Initial experience with 40 consecutive cases

“…Robotic retroauricular (RA) thyroidectomy, one of the most recently spotlighted remote access surgical techniques of thyroidectomy, has been developed and actively practiced by several robotic surgeons to overcome certain limitations of the former robotic transaxillary (TA) thyroidectomy. 6,7 There have been successful reports of the robotic RA thyroidectomy by many institutions worldwide. 6,7 Julia et al reported feasibility of RA thyroidectomy with a single-arm robotic surgical system in a preclinical cadaveric setting.…”

“…6,7 There have been successful reports of the robotic RA thyroidectomy by many institutions worldwide. 6,7 Julia et al reported feasibility of RA thyroidectomy with a single-arm robotic surgical system in a preclinical cadaveric setting. They demonstrated that during RA thyroidectomy, SP robotic system facilitated more efficient dissection by allowing additional retraction of surrounding gland or tissue and that robotic surgical system might have the potential to replace current systems for RA thyroidectomy.…”

Transoral thyroidectomy - Breaking new grounds??

“…Thus, remote access surgery has become the standard of care for the cosmetically inclined patient and surgeon. The efforts to reduce access path to the thyroid evolved towards retroauricular robotic access,[ 4 5 ] which is currently the most commonly performed remote access thyroid surgery.…”