In a study which has been accepted for publication in the Annals of Surgery, Chung and colleagues compared 570 patients by conventional endoscopic thyroidectomy with 580 patients with the same condition treated with the da Vinci surgical system. The patients had papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (in which the tumor is smaller than a centimeter) without definite extrathyroidal tumor invasion ; those treated endoscopically were treated between November of 2001 and July of 2009, while those treated robotically were enrolled between October of 2007 and July of 2009.
The number of retrieved central nodes was significantly greater in the robotic surgery group (4.3) compared to the endoscopic group (3.6).
However, the rate of transient hypocalcemia was significantly more frequent in the robotic surgery group (37.8% versus 19.7%), as was the rate of permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy (four patients in the robotic surgery group, or 0.7% of the total, compared to only one in the endoscopic group.
Postoperative hospital stays were not significantly different in either group, and there was no recurrence of the disease in either group, Chung said.
The number of retrieved central nodes was significantly greater in the robotic surgery group (4.3) compared to the endoscopic group (3.6).
However, the rate of transient hypocalcemia was significantly more frequent in the robotic surgery group (37.8% versus 19.7%), as was the rate of permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy (four patients in the robotic surgery group, or 0.7% of the total, compared to only one in the endoscopic group.
Postoperative hospital stays were not significantly different in either group, and there was no recurrence of the disease in either group, Chung said.