Symposium12: Minimally Invasive Approaches to Thyroid and Parathyroid Disease

The Retroauricular Remote access thyroidectomy - Safe & familiar remote access approach for the Otolaryngologist Head-Neck Surgeon

Alok Thakar (New Delhi,  India)

Remote Access Thyroidectomy with a hidden scar is an attractive proposition for patients faced with the prospect of Thyroidectomy for lesions perceived as low risk.

The retro-auricular facelift approach offers to Otolaryngologist-Head Neck Surgeons the advantages of familiar anatomy and familiar skills already in their repertoire. It has the advantages of being a gasless technique with no requirement for CO2 insufflation, and being applicable to relatively larger nodules (5 cm intrathyroidal), The robot provides advantages of magnified 3D vision, a stable surgical field, and stable tremor-free precise instrumentation via 3 multi-functional instrument arms.

 The interactive presentation shall present the step-by-step surgical technique incorporating lessons learnt with experience. It shall discuss aspects of case selection, surgical indications, and limitations, with an emphasis on safe surgery. Also discussed shall be complications encountered over the learning curve, surgical tips and tricks to avoid these complications, and the application of technological aids of nerve monitoring and Indo-cyanine green dye with NIRF (near infra-red fluorescence) for identification and preservation of the superior and recurrent laryngeal nerves and the parathyroid glands.