10 Year-Experience of Endoscopic Thyroidectomy for Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma in Single Institution: Breast Approach and Gasless Transaxillary Approach

PURPOSE: Endoscopic thyroid surgery has been widely used because of the cosmetic advantage and the development of laparoscopic instruments. We have performed endoscopic thyroidectomy by breast approach and gasless transaxillary approach on papillary thyroid microcarcinomas. In this study, we describe these two types of endoscopic procedures with the technique of the method and surgical outcomes. METHODS: From Oct. 1999 to Oct. 2009, each procedure was performed in 162 patients divided into two groups. Breast approach group was in 91 patients and gasless transaxillary approach group was in 71 patients. We compared the results of mean ages, sex ratio, extent of operation, mean hospital stay, operating time, pathologic characteristics and postoperative complications between the breast approach group and gasless transaxillary approach group. RESULTS: Ninety-one cases treated using breast approach, and seventy-one cases treated using gasless transaxillary approach. The operation time was 197.4+/-60.7 minutes (95~350) in breast approach group, and 100.1+/-19.8 minutes (65~140) in gasless transaxillary approach group. Post operative complications are; 2 cases of transient hoarseness, 8 cases of hypocalcemia (including 2 cases of permanent hypocalcemia), 2 cases of chest wall discomfort in breast approach group, and 1 case of transient hoarseness, 2 cases of transient hypocalcemia, 1 case of postoperative bleeding in gasless axillary approach group. CONCLUSION: Endoscopic thyroidectomy is a safe and technically feasible alternative to conventional thyroidectomy in patients with benign and highly selected malignant disease. We expect it can increase the extent of surgery.

Metastasis of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer to Ipsilateral Breast: A Case Report / 한국유방암학회지

Breast tissue is an unusual site for metastatic disease, particularly for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Aside from contralateral breast cancer, the most common tumors metastasizing to the breast are malignant melanoma and hematopoietic malignances. We recently experienced a case of a 49-year-old female patient with solitary metastasis of NSCLC to ipsilateral breast tissue. She was diagnosed as NSCLC of left lung and underwent left upper lobectomy in 2001. She was then treated with etoposide/cisplatin chemotherapy and radiation therapy. After 35 months, she was referred to our breast clinic because of a nodular opacity in the left breast revealed by screening breast ultrasound, which proved to be of pulmonary origin. She was treated by wide excision and with docetaxel/cisplatin chemotherapy. However, 37 months after breast surgery, a metastatic lesion developed in the same breast and she received modified radical mastectomy. We report this case with a review of the literature.