In recent times, robot thyroid surgery has been performed worldwide in thyroid tumors, and reducing surgical complication is also an important factor in robot surgery besides thyroidectomy. This study presents the surgical technique of preserving the recurrent laryngeal nerve and parathyroid gland in transaxillary robot thyroid surgery.

The drawback of robot thyroid surgery is that it cannot tell how strong the surgeon is holding and retracting the tissues or feels the thermal change when energy device is activated. Dissection or manipulation should be performed by layers and structures. The surgeon should not advance to the next procedure immediately after activating the coagulating energy device when related to tissues for preservation since there could be a thermal injury. After the activation, pause or make contact to a gauze placed in the operative field to check the spread of remaining heat. The shielded side of the device should be placed to the remnant structure side. By doing so, the thermal spread could be minimized. When coagulating vessels, the surgeon should not impatiently manipulate the grasped tissues since they could tear before fully coagulated and encounter bleeding. When preserving the recurrent laryngeal nerve and parathyroid gland, these surgical tips are very important to minimize the injury.

Applying such surgical techniques, the result of preserving the recurrent laryngeal nerve and parathyroid gland is safe and secure in robot thyroid surgery as presented in our video clip.

Endocrine surgeons perform functionally safe thyroidectomy and reduce the surgical complications in any type of thyroid surgery. The above-mentioned techniques will help preserve the recurrent laryngeal nerve and parathyroid gland in robot thyroid surgery