Comparative study of a gasless transaxillary approach versus a bilateral axillo-breast approach for endoscopic thyroidectomy in a single institute.

BACKGROUND Gasless transaxillary approach (TA) and the bilateral axillo-breast approach (BABA) are 2 distinctive approaches for endoscopic thyroidectomy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare these 2 procedures. METHODS From May 2008 to July 2011, we performed endoscopic hemithyroidectomy via gasless TA (83 cases) and BABA (45 cases). The following variables were evaluated: operation time, postoperative pain score, drainage amount, drainage day, postoperative complications, and cosmetic satisfaction score. RESULTS There were no significant differences between the 2 approaches in terms of clinicopathologic characteristics and surgical outcomes, except for postoperative pain and cosmetic satisfaction. As for postoperative pain and cosmetic satisfaction, the gasless TA group complained of less pain and the BABA group had a better cosmetic outcome. CONCLUSION These findings will contribute to providing guidelines for the choice of surgeons between gasless TA and BABA techniques for endoscopic thyroidectomy.