About 250,000 thyroidectomies and parathyroidectomies are conducted yearly in the United States. The typical thyroid or parathyroid surgery is performed via the front of the neck. These operations are done mainly for thyroid enlargement, nodules, cancer, and parathyroid masses. Although conventional surgeries are effective and safe, they have one disadvantage in common: they leave an undesirable visible scar for many patients.
To avoid the neck scar, surgeons introduced the concept of transoral endocrine surgery (TES) in 2011. The first operation was performed in the United States, Apr 2016. Since then, more than 300 transoral operations have been conducted in the U.S. alone. The main surgical route was achieved via the upper lip, otherwise called the “endoscopic vestibular approach.”
To date, the reported experience has shown that the safety of TES is similar to the traditional operations for the following outcomes: recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, hypoparathyroidism, and rate of infections. Based on standard inclusion and exclusion criteria, authors have found that 56% of all patients undergoing thyroidectomy or parathyroidectomy are eligible for TES.
The two most common conditions qualified for transoral endocrine surgery were thyroid nodules (76%) and parathyroid adenomas (58%). TES has the potential to be performed in the 100,000s of individuals annually. However, the authors’ findings need to be formally tested and validated before the mass application of the operation.
GT