• Takuya Nagata, Yutaka Shimada, Takeshi Miwa, Isaya Hashimoto, Hirofumi Kojima, Tomoyuki Okumura, and Kazuhiro Tsukada.
• Department of Surgery and Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences for Research, University of Toyama, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama City, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan. naga0103@med.u-toyama.ac.jp.
• Surg. Today. 2016 May 1; 46 (5): 575-82.

PurposeSeveral video-assisted and robotic surgery techniques have been reported for resection of the thyroid and parathyroid glands. Our institute has started performing endoscopic thyroidectomy using the Lap-protector and E·Z-access system, referred to as E·Z-access using video-assisted neck surgery (EZ-VANS). In this report, we evaluate the safety and efficacy of this technique.MethodsFrom January 2007 to September 2014, 110 patients underwent resection of a primary thyroid tumor, 73 who underwent a cervical collar incision (the Open group) and 37 underwent EZ-VANS (the EZ-VANS group).ResultsThe average operating time was 159 and 172 min in the Open group and EZ-VANS group, respectively; the amount of blood loss was 46.5 and 54.7 ml, respectively; and the length of hospital stay after surgery was 4.3 and 5.2 days, respectively, with no significant differences observed between the two groups. The learning curve for the EZ-VANS technique was shorter than for open surgery.ConclusionsWe confirmed that the EZ-VANS technique is a safe and useful method for resection of benign and early malignant thyroid tumors.

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