New technologies in ambulatory thyroid surgery

Thyroid operations are increasingly performed in the outpatient setting. In general the essential objectives for thyroidectomy are: sparing the parathyroid glands, avoidance of injury to the laryngeal nerves, an accurate hemostasis and an excellent cosmesis. In the last 10 years major improvements and new technologies have been proposed and applied in thyroid surgery; among these mini-invasive thyroidectomy, new devices for achieving hemostasis and dissection, intraoperative neuromonitoring, and PTH assay technology. This paper reviews relevant medical literature published on the influence of these new technologies on quality of thyroid surgery as well as prevention of postoperative morbidity and mortality. Searches were last updated April 2008.