Robotic Thyroid Surgery

Thyroid surgery remained largely unchanged for nearly 100 years after Kocher refined the traditional thyroidectomy technique utilizing his eponymous incision. During the late 1990s, significant advances in endoscopic technology and favorable experiences with minimally invasive parathyroid surgery prompted exploration into ways to reduce the cosmetic impact of the Kocher incision. While some authors pursued minimally invasive anterior cervical approaches to the thyroid gland, other groups developed remote access procedures, which completely remove the incision from the visible portion of the anterior neck. The initial remote access approaches utilized endoscopic techniques and equipment, which limited their popularity and applicability in Western practices. The surgical robot was subsequently introduced into remote access thyroid surgery to overcome these limitations, significantly increasing the international feasibility and appeal of these techniques.