Comparative study of endoscopic via areola approach versus open conventional thyroidectomy in papillary thyroid carcinomapatients

Objective To evaluate and compare the surgery prognosis of the papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) patients who underwent conventional and endoscopic thyroidectomies via areola. Methods From January 2012 to December 2017, 887 patients with PTC underwent thyroidectomy. The A group of 693 patients underwent traditional thyroidectomy, and B group of 194 patients underwent endoscopic thyroidectomy. Clinicopathologic characteristics, surgical methods, pathological features and complications were analyzed and compared between two groups. Results The mean age of A group was older than B group: (45.2 ± 11.5) years vs. (34.9 ± 9.4) years, P 0.05). Conclusions The results show that patients with PTC who underwent conventional and endoscopic thyroidectomies via areola have similar surgical prognosis.Therefore, choosing the appropriate cases for endoscopic thyroidectomy via breast areola approach may be regarded as an alternative surgical technique to conventional thyroidectomy which has the oncological safety and cosmetic results. Key words: Thyroidectomy; Endoscopy; Papillarythyroid carcinoma; Prognosis