Endoscopic neck surgery: expanding horizons.

There have now been several attempts at neck exploration using minimally invasive surgery. These encouraging reports paved the way for the authors to attempt endoscopic neck surgery. Having the necessary technical expertise in minimally invasive surgery with an experience of more than 6000 laparoscopic procedures, they attempted endoscopic parathyroidectomy in three patients with hyperparathyroidism. Of these, two had a hyperfunctioning adenoma and one had parathyroid hyperplasia. The hyperfunctioning tissue was accurately localized using a 99Tc-thallium subtraction scan. It was possible to localize and dissect the parathyroid tissue in two of the three patients. One patient required an open hemithyroidectomy before the adenoma could be localized and excised. The total operative time averaged 113 min. The working space was found to be adequate provided good hemostasis was maintained. The magnification proved excellent in identifying and defining important neck structures. Sufficient mobilization of the lateral thyroid lobe for access to the tracheoesophageal groove was found to be technically very difficult. No subcutaneous emphysema was observed beyond the neck region, and none lasted beyond 24 h. Cosmesis was acceptable to both the patient and the surgeon.