Renji Hospital’s Head and Neck Surgery Team Uses the da Vinci Robot to Remove Thyroid Cancer Without a Neck Scar
Recently, the team of Chen Jun, deputy chief physician of the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, used the fourth-generation "Da Vinci robot" to successfully perform a radical thyroid cancer surgery on Ms. Li (pseudonym), a 40-year-old patient with thyroid cancer. The surgery achieved precise and radical treatment of the tumor while achieving a perfect appearance, dispelling Ms. Li's concerns. The successful implementation of the da Vinci robotic radical thyroidectomy marks a new level of precision, minimally invasive, and personalized treatment of thyroid diseases in the Head and Neck Surgery Department of the Affiliated Renji Hospital, providing patients with a safer and more beautiful surgical option.
"Doctor, will the surgery leave a long scar on my neck? I can't accept this. Is there any other way?" Ms. Li is a working woman. During the physical examination, a left thyroid nodule was found, and she was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer through puncture and pathological examination. Faced with the problem of neck scars that may be caused by traditional surgery, Ms. Li expressed her strong need for beauty. Unable to accept the huge scar on her neck, she resisted surgical treatment.
After extensive consultation, she came to the expert clinic of Chen Jun, deputy chief physician of the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at the Affiliated Renji Hospital, and expressed three wishes: complete radical cure after surgery, no impact on her voice after surgery, and no scars on the front of her neck after surgery.
Data show that thyroid cancer is more common in women, and female thyroid cancer mostly occurs in young women aged 35 to 45 years old. It is a woman's nature to love beauty, but for women who have undergone thyroid surgery, the surgical scars left on their necks seem to be an inescapable pain. Compared with operations in natural cavities such as the chest, abdomen, and pelvis, the operating space of thyroid surgery is very narrow and requires higher operating skills of the surgeon. Chen Jun said: "The fourth-generation Da Vinci robotic surgical system's operating instruments can more flexibly and accurately remove tumors in a small space, while also achieving scar-free neck."
In response to Ms. Li's needs for beauty, in order to achieve the purpose of personalized and precise treatment of tumors, Chen Jun's team decided to use the da Vinci robotic surgical system to perform radical thyroid cancer surgery after rigorous evaluation.
The surgery was performed under the guidance of head and neck surgery director Wang Zhuoying, chief physician Wang Jiadong and deputy chief physician Zhou Qinyi. During the operation, the robot's robotic arm entered the operating area through tiny incisions in the patient's armpit and chest wall. With its 10x magnified 3D high-definition field of view and 540-degree flexible rotating simulated wrist instrument, it accurately removed the lesions adjacent to the trachea and recurrent laryngeal nerve, and cleared the central lymph nodes.
The blood loss during the entire operation was less than 10 ml. Ms. Li's vocal cord function was intact after the operation, with no complications such as numbness of her hands and feet, and her neck was completely traceless, achieving the expected results.