Endoscopic resection of thyroid tumors by the axillary approach.

One of the problems of surgery in the neck is the scar. Endoscopic surgery has recently been applied to cervical exploration and the scars of the neck are small and inconspicuous, but a few patients still complain of it. For this reason, we developed a technique of endoscopic resection of thyroid tumors using an axillary approach. This approach does not leave a scar on the neck or the chest, and the small scar in the axilla is completely covered by the patient's arm in a natural manner. Furthermore, the complications such as hypercapnia, respiratory acidosis, subcutaneous empysema, air embolism and sensory loss in the neck region are minimized, because the working surgical space is small and procedures can be performed with CO2 insufflation levels below 4 mmHg. We believe that endoscopic surgery by the axillary approach will find a role in the treatment of thyroid tumors