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Objective:

To confirm the merits of robotic thyroid surgery by comparing the surgical outcomes of robotic-assisted and conventional endoscopic thyroidectomy in papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) patients.

Background:

Robot-assisted surgical techniques are widely utilized, and substantially, overcome the limitations of conventional endoscopic surgery. Furthermore, recently, robotic procedures were introduced to the thyroidectomy field.

Methods:

From November 2001 to July 2009, 1150 patients with PTMC underwent endoscopic thyroidectomy using a gasless, trans-axillary approach. Of these patients, 580 underwent a robotic procedure (the robotic group; RG) and 570 a conventional endoscopic procedure (the conventional endoscopic group; EG). These 2 groups were retrospectively compared in terms of their clinicopathologic characteristics, early surgical outcomes, and surgical completeness.

Results:

Total …