• Titus D Duncan, Qammar N Rashid, and Fredne Speights.
• Department of Surgery, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. titusduncan@gmail.com
• Surg Laparosc Endosc Percutan Tech. 2008 Oct 1;18(5):530-5.

BackgroundMinimal access surgery for thyroid and parathyroid disease has gained increasing popularity due to excellent endoscopic visualization and overall cosmetic outcome. Most current techniques limit the size of the gland that can be removed to less than 4 cm. Patients with multinodular goiter with gland size greater than 4 cm commonly present for surgical therapy. We evaluated the use of an endoscopic transaxillary approach for the treatment of large multinodular goiters. We herein present a case report of 3 consecutive patients undergoing this technique for benign multinodular goiter disease.MethodsThree consecutive patients with large multinodular goiter (>6 cm) were treated using a transaxillary endoscopic approach.ResultsAll patients had successful endoscopic thyroidectomy using a transaxillary endoscopic approach. There were no recurrent nerve injuries. One patient had transient hypoparathyroidism that subsequently resolved after surgery.ConclusionsTransaxillary endoscopic thyroidectomy may be a viable option to open cervical thyroidectomy in the treatment of patients with large multinodular goiter. We herein present a case report of 3 consecutive patients undergoing this technique for benign multinodular goiter disease.

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