A thyroid tumor removed through two small holes in the armpit and another in the area of the areola, after a meticulous work of an hour and a half, characterize endoscopic transaxillary thyroid surgery, a minimally invasive intervention.
Leira is the only hospital of the National Health Service to carry out this intervention on the thyroid, which leaves no visible marks and has a quick recovery.
Shortly after 9:30 a.m. on the 15th, when the surgeon Jaime Vilaça and his team entered the operating room, where the patient, a 28-year-old woman, was beginning to be anesthetized.
Two holes in the armpit and one in the area of the areola allowed the introduction of the devices, which allow the introduction of a high-resolution micro-camera inside the body and very delicate instruments.
The lens is the eyes of the surgeon Jaime Vilaça, who sees the entire interior as if he were “in loco”. With high-precision work, he works his way to the tumor, pulling it out into a bag still inside the body, pulled by the devices.
Along the way, a sensor is used to identify the vocal cord nerve to ensure the best results.
to mark the world thyroid daythe Lusa agency was invited to attend transaxillary endoscopic surgery at the Santo André Hospital, at the Leiria Hospital Center, which began this type of intervention in September 2022.
This is a type of surgery minimally invasive, which brings unequivocal advantages for patients. To begin with, a great recovery and a fantastic aesthetic result, because it cannot be understood that the person has undergone surgery. Afterwards, you benefit from all the great benefits of endoscopic surgery: an amplified image, with optimized lighting in which we can perceive and see very well all the noble structures that we have to preserve in this operation”, explained Jaime Vilaça, at the end of Surgery
The specialist began this type of intervention in 2014, in the private sector.
“Today we have more than 200 cases treated and we started a program with our hospital [Leiria] in September of last year. We already have about two dozen cases treated here. The results have been highly appreciated by our patients. It seems to us that the SNS needs this modernity, ”he stressed.
According to Jaime Vilaça, the CHL “is very committed to bringing innovation and education to the field of surgery, with these advances that can mean a great improvement in the recovery of patients and their final result.”
Endoscopic and traditional techniques are like “a musician who masters the score, but wants to learn another instrument.”
“A violin has nothing to do with a piano. The technique is all different.although the melody may be the same, because the objective of the intervention is the same”, compared the surgeon.
Jaime Vilaça said that, for young people, “with an active and working life”, this surgery “has a great benefit”since it has “a quick recovery, little pain and no scar.”
Thus, there is no “stigmatization of people knowing the intervention that was performed.”
“This can have a major impact in terms of work, in the competitive world as it is today,” he stressed.
Natércia Alves, 43, was one of the first users operated with this method in Leiria: “I thought it would be a traditional operation, with a cut in the neck”, she revealed, assuming that the fact that it was a “new experience” that left something uneasy, but confident.
“The recovery was good. It always went well. I didn’t have much pain. Since I work on the aesthetic part, it helps a bit and I am happy with the results, ”she said.
José Gomes Soares, 76, the first to undergo surgery in Leiria, is also “very satisfied” with the transaxillary endoscopic thyroid operation: “I got some small wrinkles, the effect of the five-centimeter nodule that I had on my neck. The recovery was good and I’m flawless”.
The clinical director, Salvato Feijó, highlighted that this intervention “comes as a result of an investment that the CHL has made in recent years in differentiation, innovation and creation of conditions to attract technical capacity and new elements to fill the staff of the hospital. ”.
According to the doctor, it is a technique “much less interventionist, therefore, is a step forward in thyroid surgerybe benign pathology or malignant pathology”.
In the last year, the CHL Endocrinology service performed around 650 thyroid punctures.
“A large percentage of these patients have to undergo a sequence of surgical intervention. We have many patients with thyroid disease in the region and this is a technique that will have much greater expression. We made a correct bet, ”she acknowledged.
The most frequent cause of this intervention is “Suspicious nodule and treatment of malignant tumors”.
According to Jaime Vilaça, “a total endoscopic resection of the thyroid gland has already been performed, which was the first to be performed in Portugal.”
It is estimated that thyroid diseases affect around 10% of Portuguese people, with a higher incidence in females, around 90% of cases.
Source: Observadora
