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Safety of robotic thyroidectomy approaches: Meta‐analysis and systematic review
Author(s) -
Jackson Nicole R.,
Yao Lu,
Tufano Ralph P.,
Kandil Emad H.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
head and neck
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.012
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1097-0347
pISSN - 1043-3074
DOI - 10.1002/hed.23223
Subject(s) - thyroidectomy , medicine , meta analysis , surgery , confidence interval , patient satisfaction , robotic surgery , general surgery , thyroid
Background This study compared the efficacy of robotic thyroidectomy via a gasless, axillary approach with conventional cervical and endoscopic techniques by meta‐analysis. Methods Articles were identified from the following keyword searches: robotic/robot‐assisted thyroidectomy/thyroid surgery. Outcomes included operative time, hospital stay, complications, and cosmetic satisfaction after surgery. Between‐group outcome differences were calculated using random‐effects models. Results In all, 87 publications were identified and 9 studies met inclusion criteria, totaling 2881 patients, 1122 of whom underwent robotic thyroidectomy. Those who underwent robotic surgery reported greater cosmetic satisfaction, with a pooled net mean difference of −1.35 (95% confidence interval [CI]: −1.69, −1.09). Robotic approach operative time was longer than that of the conventional approach (95% CI: 29.23, 54.87), with a trend to be shorter than the endoscopic approaches. Robotic surgery had similar risks to open and endoscopic approaches. Conclusions Our meta‐analysis suggests that robotic thyroidectomy is as safe, feasible, and efficacious as conventional cervical and endoscopic thyroidectomy, showing superior cosmetic satisfaction than that of conventional thyroidectomy. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 36 : 137–143, 2014