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A Review on the History of ‘Thyroid Surgery’

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Abstract

The history of thyroid surgery is both interesting and illustrative. The ambitions of a thyroid surgeon have evolved along the length of time. The objective of this article is to give an idea about the evolution of thyroid surgery thus giving inspiration to future surgeons in their quest for a perfect technique, which would take into consideration disease elimination and maintenance of physiology and cosmesis. The history of thyroid surgery back to as early as 952 AD, when Albucasis first performed the surgery. Thereafter, the course of this surgery had its crests and troughs. At one point of time, surgeons refused to perform this surgery because of the complications. But later on, surgeons like Billroth and Kocher gave this procedure a new leash of life, after which this surgery became popular and underwent numerous modifications to where now it stands. History reveals that thyroid surgery has travelled a long path in time. From an operation which once was considered dreadful to the present times when techniques are being tried to make the incision as small as possible. The quest is still on to develop the perfect technique.

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Conflict of interest

I, Dr. Saurav Sarkar, the corresponding author of the article: A Review on the History of ‘Thyroid Surgery’ on behalf of all my co-authors, do hereby state that there are no potential conflicts of interest that are directly or indirectly related to the research and write-up of this article.

Thank you

Dr. Saurav Sarkar

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of ENT and Head Neck Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS, BBSR), 751019, Sijua, Patrapada, Bhubaneswar, 751019, Odhisa, India

    Saurav Sarkar

  2. Department of ENT, Apollo Gleangles Hospital, Kolkata, India

    Swagatam Banerjee

  3. Department of Surgery, Bankura Sammilani Medical College and Hospital, Bankura, India

    Rathin Sarkar

  4. Department of ENT, NRS Medical College, Kolkata, India

    Biswajit Sikder

Authors
  1. Saurav Sarkar
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  2. Swagatam Banerjee
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  3. Rathin Sarkar
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  4. Biswajit Sikder
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Correspondence to Saurav Sarkar.

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Sarkar, S., Banerjee, S., Sarkar, R. et al. A Review on the History of ‘Thyroid Surgery’. Indian J Surg 78, 32–36 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12262-015-1317-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12262-015-1317-5

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