Scarless Thyroid Surgery

ABSTRACT

@#Traditionally, treatment for thyroid diseases is associated with very high mortality and morbidity. Various techniques been performed in the past including finger dissection and the use of finger nails to remove the thyroid tissues. The earliest reported thyroidectomy was probably by Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi or Albucasis. It was mentioned that, he performed an enucleation of a thyroid nodule in the 11th century in Spain. This was followed by Salerno in the twelfth centuries, using different technique, including setons, hot irons and caustic powders. The first documented partial thyroidectomy was performed by Pierre Joseph Desault in 1791. But at that time, thyroidectomy was considered as a barbaric surgery with high mortality. The poor result and high mortality had lead to the imprisonment of surgeons and total ban of the operation by the French Academy of Medicine in 1850. The advancement of thyroid surgery was most obvious in the second half of the nineteenth century when Theodor Billroth managed to reduce the mortality dramatically, thanks to the establishment of antisepsis, arterial ligation and precise capsular dissection which was introduced at the same time. There was further improvement on the mortality of the thyroid surgeries to almost zero, but the basic principles remain the same identification of the recurrent laryngeal nerves and preservation of the parathyroid glands. What becoming a more important issue is the surgery now been performed for smaller thyroid for cosmetic reason, with the need to avoid visible scar in the neck