Objectives/Methods
Since its introduction in August 2018, our hospital has been performing endoscopic thyroid surgery using video-assisted neck surgery (VANS) method. We report on the current status and treatment outcomes of VANS at our hospital.

Results

The study included 69 patients who underwent VANS for thyroid tumors over a 5-year period from August 2018 to July 2023. The patients’ ages ranged from 18 to 76 years (median: 48 years), with 3 men and 66 women. In all cases, a 2.5–3.0 cm skin incision was made under the affected clavicle approximately 7 cm from the midline of the sternum. The maximum tumor diameter ranged from 8 to 50 mm (median: 30 mm), operative time from 82 to 238 min (median: 156 min), and volume of blood loss from 0 to 60 mL (median: 20 mL). The postoperative histopathological diagnoses were 45 cases of adenomatous goiter and 6 cases of follicular adenoma as benign tumors and 14 cases of papillary carcinoma, 3 cases of follicular carcinoma, and 1 case of medullary carcinoma as malignant tumors.Postoperative recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis was observed in three patients—one with permanent paralysis and two with transient paralysis.

Conclusions

VANS has achieved favorable treatment outcomes without compromising safety, and we intend to examine an increased number of cases in the future.