Minimally invasive open thyroidectomy

We recently developed a new surgical technique for carrying out thyroidecto my, to minimize tissue trauma by obviating unnecessary neck exploration. Th is report describes our technique of performing minimally invasive open thy roidectomy and compares the results with those of conventional thyroidectom y. Minimally invasive open thyroidectomy was performed by making a small sk in incision, 3.0-4.5cm long, and approaching the thyroid directly via a tra nsverse division of the strap muscles without raising skin flaps. The outco mes of 466 patients who underwent a minimally invasive open thyroidectomy w ere retrospectively compared with those of 437 patients who underwent conve ntional thyroidectomy for various types of thyroid nodules. There was no si gnificant difference in the extent of surgery between the group of patients who underwent minimally invasive thyroidectomy and the group of patients w ho underwent conventional thyroidectomy. However, the length of the skin in cision, at 3.7 +/- 0.7 vs 9.6 +/- 3.3 cm, respectively, operative time, at 57.6 +/- 11.7 vs 85.2 +/- 32.3 min, respectively, blood loss, at 18.4 +/- 1 5.3 vs 43.1 +/- 21.8 ml, respectively, and hospital stay, at 1.6 +/- 0.5 vs 4.3 +/- 1.6 days, respectively, were significantly reduced in the minimall y invasive open thyroidectomy group (P < 0.05). Moreover, the number of pat ients who required postoperative analgesia was significantly less in the mi nimally invasive open thyroidectomy group. These results show that minimall y invasive open thyroidectomy provides surgeons with a clear operative fiel d, and that it has proven to be simple, safe, and practical for selected pa tients.