Minimally invasive video-assisted thyroidectomy: The learning curve

Background: MIVAT (minimally invasive video-assisted thyroidectomy) is a recent technique that requires a learning curve. Materials and Methods: From July 2005 to December 2006, we treated 100 from a total of 467 thyroidectomy patients with MIVAT. We divided the patients into 3 groups. The first 2 groups consisted of 25 patients each: group A (cases 1-25) and group B (26-50). We also divided patients into 2 groups based on our surgical experience: group A + B (cases 1-50) and group C (cases 51-100). Results: The operative times for groups A and B were 101.7 and 84.6 min, respectively (p < 0.03); those for groups A + B and C were 91.07 and 63.06 min, respectively (p < 0.004). Complications of hypocalcemia were observed in 6 cases (4 in the first 50 cases and 2 in the second 50), and complications of nerve palsy were observed in 2 cases from group A. Conclusions: After 25 cases, we observed that the MIVAT procedure allows for a lower mean operative time and a reduction of complications. Copyright (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.