Comparison of postoperative pain between transoral and conventional thyroidectomy: a propensity score-matched analysis.

Surg Endosc

Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-Ro, Seongdong-Gu, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea.

Published: March 2024

AI Article Synopsis

  • This study investigates postoperative pain levels in patients undergoing transoral thyroidectomy compared to conventional transcervical thyroidectomy.
  • Researchers evaluated pain using a numerical rating scale (NRS) across 310 conventional and 194 transoral patients, collecting data at multiple time points post-surgery.
  • Results showed that transoral patients experienced significantly greater pain initially, with worsening scores on day 1, but improved over time, with robotic transoral procedures associated with lower pain than endoscopic methods.

Article Abstract

Background: The extent of postoperative pain following transoral thyroidectomy is not well-understood and remains a subject of debate. This study aims to analyze and compare postoperative pain levels between patients undergoing transoral and conventional transcervical thyroidectomy.

Methods: A prospective evaluation on postoperative pain was conducted in 310 patients undergoing conventional thyroidectomy and 194 undergoing transoral thyroidectomy. Pain levels were evaluated using the numerical rating scale (NRS, ranging from 0 to 10) through preoperative and postoperative questionnaires at specified time points: 1, 3, and 6 days, and 1 and 3 months following surgery. Propensity score-matched analysis was carried out based on six covariates: sex, age, body mass index, extent of thyroidectomy, tumor size, and central neck dissection.

Results: After propensity score matching based on the six covariates, 121 patient pairs were identified from each group. Within this matched cohort, postoperative pain scores significantly worsened 1 day after surgery but showed progressive recovery up to 3 months post-surgery in both groups. The transoral group exhibited higher postoperative pain scores than the conventional group from day 1 (4.43 ± 2.6 vs. 3.11 ± 2.5, p < 0.001) to day 6 (1.76 ± 1.9 vs. 1.13 ± 1.6, p = 0.016) post-surgery, with no significant difference noted at 1 month. Among transoral procedures, pain scores were significantly higher for the endoscopic approach compared to the robotic approach on days 1 (5.52 ± 2.3 vs. 4.29 ± 2.3, p = 0.028) and 3 (3.52 ± 2.5 vs. 2.64 ± 2.0, p = 0.047) post-surgery.

Conclusions: Postoperative pain was significantly higher in transoral thyroidectomy compared to conventional thyroidectomy up to 6 days post-surgery. Within the transoral group, the robotic procedure resulted in lower pain levels than the endoscopic approach during the early postoperative period.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00464-023-10656-zDOI Listing

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