Journal Reviews
Lymph node metastases in papillary thyroid cancer
This retrospective Korean cohort study looked at the risk factors associated with bilateral lateral lymph node metastases in patients with unilateral papillary thyroid cancer. There were 11 patients who met the inclusion criteria across an 11-year period from 2009 to...
Active surveillance for papillary thyroid cancers – what is the risk of progression?
Papillary thyroid cancers (PTCs) are generally considered to be indolent malignancies with favourable outcomes. Active surveillance (AS) has consequently been trialled as a management option for small PTCs with no evidence of regional lymph node involvement, especially papillary thyroid microcarcinomas...
How reliable are PTH levels for the prediction of hypocalcaemia after thyroid surgery?
Hypoparathyroidism is one of the most common complications of thyroid surgery. There is significant controversy in calcium management practices post thyroid surgery. The drop in PTH levels has been used to predict the likelihood of hypocalcaemia after thyroid surgery. But...
Is a hemithyroidectomy as effective as a total thyroidectomy for compressive symptoms?
The claim made in the title of this paper, that hemithyroidectomy is equally as successful as total thyroidectomy in alleviating compressive symptoms from goitres, is certainly intriguing. And with the inclusion of 45,539 subjects, it would at first glance seem...
Inpatient or outpatient thyroidectomy?
This systematic review and meta-analysis discusses the safety of hemithyroidectomy in an outpatient vis-à-vis an inpatient setting. Thyroidectomy has traditionally been performed as an inpatient procedure. Currently, an increasing number of surgeons are performing thyroidectomy in outpatient settings. The main...
Outcomes for transoral vestibule approach thyroid surgery
Ed’s choice explores a systematic review examining one of the recent innovations in head and neck surgery. It may come as a surprise to some that within a few years of the first published cases of transoral vestibule thyroidectomy, an...
Using evidence and international consensus to guide treatment of thyroid nodules
The authors of this practical review paper highlight a growing issue within thyroid surgery, where high-quality ultrasound has increased the detection of subclinical nodules: what do we do with the patient presenting with an ‘incidental’ thyroid nodule? This has both...
The rise of AI in the head and neck clinic
There has been a huge focus in recent months on the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in all aspects of modern life, and the head and neck clinic is no exception it appears. This paper builds on previous work to...
Suspect the unsuspecting in thyroid cancer
This article reminds readers of how often invasive thyroid disease can appear, as the symptomatology is minimal. Noticeable airway symptoms appear after 50% of the airway is involved and surgeons can often fall in the unsuspecting trap of discovering locally...
Post-thyroidectomy vocal cord palsy: are there long-term sequelae?
This is a well written paper utilising the Hospital Episode Statistics dataset for all thyroidectomies performed in England between 2004 and 2012. The study had a very impressive 43,515 participants and only included young, fit patients undergoing thyroidectomy once for...
A global view of thyroid surgery practices
The incidence of thyroid cancer continues to increase, and both surgery for benign and malignant disease carries an important and persistent incidence of perioperative complications. This paper reports the results of an electronic survey sent to members of seven surgical...
No increase in papillary thyroid cancer during pregnancy
This small study of 19 pregnant patients, who were diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer before or during the early stages of pregnancy (up to 20 weeks), assessed the changes of thyroid tumours during pregnancy. Conducted at a single centre over...
