Safe Thyroid Surgery (STS)
An alternative procedure
Surgery and thermal ablation are alternative and first choice procedures in the treatment of benign nodular thyroid diseases,but each with its own specific indications.
Where thermal ablation can’t be effective and decisive, surgery is the obligatory choice in the majority of cases.
It should not be conveyed that surgery must be considered a treatment with a high risk of complications when compared to thermal ablation and therefore approached with concern. Today, thyroid surgery must meet specific requirements to be considered safe with a low complication rate. First and foremost, it is a delicate surgery that must be performed by dedicated surgeons in highly specialized centers with a high volume of cases. This criterion significantly reduces the number of observable complications.
Let’s respect the patient
In addition, a fundamental role is played by technological progress: in a specialized endocrine surgery center, the possibility of performing procedures with the assistance of neuromonitoring should always be available. This technique allows the monitoring of vocal cords movement during anesthesia. This reduces but doesn’t eliminate the risk of complications for the voice, but it may prevent the most severe complication in total thyroidectomies, which is bilateral paralysis with the need for a tracheotomy to ensure breathing. To further reduce complications on the parathyroids, there is now technology available that helps the surgeon locate the glands before thyroid removal to avoid their suffering. The same equipment also checks the vitality of the parathyroids after thyroidectomy, drastically reducing the risk of postoperative hypocalcemia.
All of this and more is encapsulated in the SafeThyroidSurgery (STS) logo, symbolizing our support for gentle surgery that respects the patient and employs solutions that can tailor the most suitable intervention for the patient (tailored surgery), be it traditional or robotic, minimally invasive, or thermal ablative.
Stay updated
on the latest news
I'm a Doctor
I'm a Patient
I'm a Doctor
I'm a Patient
