Comparative Study Between Endoscopic Thyroid Surgery via the Oral Vestibular Approach and the Areola Approach

Objective: To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of endoscopic thyroidectomy through the oral vestibular approach and the breast approach. Methods: Retrospective analysis was done on clinical data of 80 patients who received an endoscopic thyroidectomy from April 2018 to March 2019. The research group had endoscopic thyroidectomy through the oral vestibular approach, whereas the control group had endoscopic thyroidectomy through the areola breast approach. Comparison between the two groups including intraoperative bleeding, operation time, total postoperative drainage, drainage time, postoperative sustained pain time, recovery feeding time, postoperative hospitalization duration, satisfactory esthetic outcomes of incision, central lymph node clearance, skin injury, infection incidence, and complications such as facial hematoma, subcutaneous emphysema, abnormal feeling of the neck and chest, and pleural injury was recorded. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in the amount of intraoperative bleeding, operation time, total postoperative drainage, drainage time, postoperative sustained pain time, recovery feeding time, and postoperative hospitalization time ( P  > .05). The incidence of complications such as skin injury, infection, wound hematoma, subcutaneous emphysema, abnormal feeling of the neck and chest, and pleural injury was not statistically different between the two groups ( P  > .05). There was no significant difference in the number of lymph nodes cleaned in the central area between the two groups ( P  > .05). The overall satisfaction of the patients with the cosmetic effects of the incision (100.00%) was higher than that of the control group (90.00%). Conclusions: The clinical treatment effect and safety in the two groups were similar, but the transoral group had better cosmetic effects.