YNHH Performs First Scarless Thyroid Surgery

Yale-New Haven Hospital surgeons became the first in the nation to perform a thyroid and parathyroidectomy that avoids visible scarring.

The hospital reported the following details in a release:

Endocrine Surgeon Robert Udelsman performed this procedure, called a transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy through the vestibular approach, multiple times this week, according to a release.. This new method allows a surgeon to access the thyroid or parathyroid through the inside of the patient’s lower lip rather than the common neck location. The recovery time is the same and the outcomes have been excellent, according to a news release from YNHH.

This surgical approach was pioneered by Thai Surgeon Angkoon Anuwong, MD, of the Police General Hospital in Bangkok. He developed this method because visible neck scarring can be very stigmatizing for Asian women. Other surgical methods, which involve making incisions through the breast and underarm, have higher rates of complications.

Udelsman and his colleague, Dr. Tobias Carling, traveled to Thailand to observe the procedure and, upon their return, underwent the rigorous procedures at YNHH, to be approved and credentialed to perform the surgery. Of the six procedures done so far this week at YNHH, Carling performed three. Anuwong has been in the operating room this week observing.

“Yale-New Haven Hospital is one of the world’s largest centers for thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal procedures, performing over 1,200 cases annually,” Udelsman said. ​“This new surgical method will allow patients to avoid what can be an embarrassing and sometimes stigmatizing reminder of the procedure on their neck. I’m extremely grateful to Drs. Anuwong and Carling for assisting and implementing this technique in the United States. I would also like to thank Drs. Oprea and Rhodes, along with Charlene Campbell, ARN, Kristin Brooks, CRNA, Melissa Sansone, RN, Shaun Small, surgical technician, Patricia Donovan, RN, MBA and the spectacular staff at YNHH who made this complex procedure possible.”

Udelsman has spent his entire career working on developing minimally invasive endocrine procedures. He was one of the first in the world to pioneer minimally invasive parathyroidectomy and was an early adopter of laparoscopic adrenalectomy.