• Kazuo Shimizu, Wataru Kitagawa, Haruki Akasu, Nobuo Hatori, Kyoji Hirai, and Shigeo Tanaka.
• Second Department of Surgery, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8603, Japan.
• Surg. Today. 2002 Jan 1; 32 (10): 862-8.

PurposeEndoscopic endocrine neck surgery is desirable from a cosmetic viewpoint. We compared the effectiveness of our new technique with that of conventional surgery in a clinical study.MethodsWe performed our original endoscopic method of video-assisted neck surgery (VANS) on 130 patients: 126 with thyroid tumors and 4 with parathyroid tumors. The percentage of patients who underwent VANS among all those who underwent neck surgery and the procedure involved were analyzed. Operating time and blood loss were compared between the first 40 patients and last 39, and all factors were statistically analyzed in the most recent 20 patients who underwent the VANS method and the most recent 20 who underwent conventional surgery.ResultsMore than 60% of benign thyroid tumors and 5.3% of malignant thyroid tumors were operated on by the VANS method. Nearly total lobectomy was the most common procedure (57.7%), followed by total lobectomy (26.1%), for benign tumors. Malignancy was defined as papillary carcinoma less than 1 cm in diameter. Total lobectomy with lymph node clearance was performed for all malignant tumors. There was less bleeding when the VANS method (P < 0.001) was used than when conventional surgery was performed, and the operating time has been reduced with experience.ConclusionThe VANS method is feasible, practical, and safe, and has great cosmetic benefits.

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