Robot Assisted Transaxillary Total Thyroidectomy with Intermittent Intraoperative Neuromonitoring (I-IONM)

Gabriele Materazzi, MD

Product Details
Product ID: ACS-6095
Year Produced: 2020
Length: 11 min.


The case described in this video deals with a 32-year-old female patient with a papillary thyroid carcinoma of the right lobe in a small multinodular goiter. The patient underwent a robot-assisted total thyroidectomy with trans-axillary approach performed using Intermittent Nerve-Monitoring.Dissecting and identifying the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) are considered routine procedures now that safe and effective strategies have been established. Intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) has proven effective for intraoperative verification of RLN function in thyroid surgery.The goal of the nerve monitoring is to detect surgical or physiological insults to the RLN while they are still reversible or, if an irreversible damage is done, to avoid bilateral surgery or change the planned strategy (two stage surgery). IONM is a feasible procedure in both open and endoscopic / robotic thyroidectomy.In addition to the use of IONM as an assistive technology for navigating the anatomy in challenging procedures such as endoscopic and robotic thyroidectomy, IONM has potential use as a routine adjunct to the conventional video-assisted nerve identification in thyroidectomy.In this video a robotic total thyroidectomy with right trans-axillary approach is performed with the help of intermittent-nerve monitoring. Structures are clearly identified and tagged. Intermittent stimulations are performed and reports showed the integrity of the nerve.The procedure has no complications. The post-operative course was uneventful and the patient was discharge in II post-operative day. After a 3-month follow-up, the patient is in excellent clinical condition without any voice alteration.