Chennai : Kauvery Hospital, Vadapalani, has successfully performed a complex, scarless robotic surgery to remove a massive cancerous tumour from the thyroid gland of a 50-year-old woman from Kolkata, while preserving her voice.
The woman had noticed a constant swelling in her neck for the past three months, which had visibly increased in size. Preliminary investigations, along with a biopsy, confirmed the presence of a papillary cancerous tumour, the most common type of cancer, in her thyroid gland. Her condition required surgery for complete removal of the tumour, following which she was referred to Kauvery Hospital, Vadapalani.
Further investigations at the hospital revealed that the five-centimetre tumour was located on the left side of the thyroid and had attached itself to the surrounding strap muscles. It was also situated very close to the nerve responsible for the patient’s voice. This posed a major challenge for the surgical team, as they had to ensure complete removal of the tumour while preserving the patient’s voice.
A team headed by Dr Sathish Kumar Anandan, Senior Consultant, Surgical Oncology and Robotic Surgeon, decided to perform a minimally invasive robotic total thyroidectomy with resection of the involved strap muscle. The team created a keyhole-sized incision in the patient’s left underarm and developed a tunnel-like passage to access the tumour, leaving her with no visible scar on her neck.
Commenting on the surgery, Dr Sathish said, “In conventional method, we would have to make an incision across the front of the neck to remove a tumour of this nature, which would leave a prominent scar on the patient’s neck. To avoid this, we made a small incision in her underarm and created a tunnel-like passage to reach the tumour. The enhanced visualisation and precision provided by the robotic system helped us clearly differentiate the tumour from the nerve responsible for her voice. We successfully removed the tumour along with the involved muscle while preserving her voice.”
Following the procedure, the patient was able to eat and speak the very next day.
Dr Aravindan Selvaraj, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Kauvery Group of Hospitals, said, “The true value of advanced surgical technology lies not merely in its sophistication, but in the meaningful difference it makes to a patient’s treatment and recovery. In this case, the advanced robotic approach enabled the surgical team to completely remove a challenging and massive thyroid cancer while preserving the patient’s voice and supporting an early recovery. The minimally invasive, scarless technique also helped avoid a visible scar on the neck, while ensuring that the primary focus remained on safe and effective cancer treatment.”
Robotic surgery can be considered for appropriately selected patients undergoing thyroid and head-and-neck procedures, particularly when access to delicate structures is challenging. Enhanced visualisation and precision can help surgeons work through a minimally invasive approach. However, robotic surgery is not suitable for every patient, and the choice of surgical approach depends on the tumour characteristics and individual patient factors.