Open Right Thyroid Lobectomy

Abstract

Surgery of the thyroid gland spans back to medieval times, with the first known operation dating back to 952 AD, when Abu al-Qasim (a renowned surgeon of the Middle Ages) performed the first goiter resection. In the mid-19th century, thyroid surgery was considered so perilous that it was banned by the French Academy of Medicine. Over the next century, many prominent surgeons advanced techniques in thyroidectomy. For example, William Stewart Halsted was a strong advocate of distal vessel ligation to preserve blood supply to the parathyroid glands, and Frank Lahey described the identification and preservation of the recurrent laryngeal nerve [1]. More recently, technological advances such as bipolar energy devices and intraoperative nerve monitoring have become important adjuncts to thyroid surgery. In modern times, thyroid surgery is considered one of the most efficient and safest operations when performed by high-volume surgeons.