Quality of Life Following Robotic Transaxillary Versus Conventional Hemithyroidectomy: A Comparative Analysis

Sharon Tzelnick, Nir Tsur*, Ido Amir, Aviram Mizrachi, Torquil Watt, Naomi Rabinovics, Yaakov Mamun, Dan Yaniv, Gideon Bachar, Esmat Najjar

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Robotic technology has proven safe and effective for thyroidectomy procedures. Few studies have addressed the quality-of-life outcomes of robotic thyroidectomy compared with conventional thyroidectomy. Materials and Methods: The database of a tertiary medical center was retrospectively reviewed for all patients with thyroid disease who had undergone robotic hemithyroidectomy in 2012-2020. All patients treated by transaxillary robotic surgery and a similar number of randomly selected patients treated by conventional cervical surgery completed a standardized self-administered thyroid disease-specific quality-of-life (QOL) questionnaire (ThyPRO). Clinical data were derived from the medical files. The results were compared using mean comparison tests and multivariate logistic regression models. Results: The cohort consisted of 131 patients: 63 after robotic thyroidectomy and 68 after conventional thyroidectomy. The mean age was 38.87 ± 14.11 and 58.85 ± 14.1 years, respectively (P < .0001). The robotic hemithyroidectomy group reported better QOL outcomes in physical and mental health parameters, including decreased anxiety, depression, lower sex life impairment, and cognitive impairment scores (P < .0001). Furthermore, after adjusting for age, gender, malignancy status, and surgical approach, we found that patients undergoing robotic hemithyroidectomy had a lower probability of experiencing depressive symptoms than the conventional hemithyroidectomy group (odds ratio = 0.31; 95% confidence interval, 0.11-0.88). Of interest, no significant difference in cosmetic outcomes was found. Conclusions: Patients who underwent robotic thyroidectomy report better postoperative QOL after surgery than patients operated by the conventional approach in terms of anxiety, depression, cognitive and sex-life scores.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Laparoendoscopic and Advanced Surgical Techniques
Volume33
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)8-14
Number of pages7
ISSN1092-6429
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright 2023, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 2023.

Keywords

  • quality of life
  • robotic hemithyroidectomy
  • ThyPRO questionnaire

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