Cover-2-image2

From left: Aida Taye-Bellistri, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Timo Hakkarainen, MD, Endocrine Surgery Fellow; William B. Inabnet III, MD; Angkoon Anuwong, MD; and Jennifer Barnes, Certified Surgical Technologist, perform the new thyroidectomy procedure for workshop participants.

Surgeons in the Mount Sinai Endocrine Surgery Thyroid Program, who have become national leaders in performing a new minimally invasive technique for thyroidectomy, hosted a workshop in February to train other physicians, a two-day event that drew an audience of clinicians from around the world.

The procedure, known as a transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy (TOETVA), involves the removal of the thyroid gland through small hidden incisions inside the lower lip, an approach that can be used in select cases when traditional thyroidectomy, typically performed through the front of the neck, is not the best course of action. TOETVA is best suited for cases involving smaller nodules and early-stage papillary thyroid cancer.

The workshop was led by William B. Inabnet III, MD, Chair, Department of Surgery, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, and Professor of Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who performed the first TOETVA in New York State—and only the second in the United States—in September Teams from Duke University Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, Rush Medical College, and Weill Cornell, as well as from an institute in Mexico City and a hospital in Madrid, attended the workshop in person or via video conference. The event was organized to welcome Angkoon Anuwong, MD, Department of Surgery, Police General Hospital, in Bangkok, Thailand, who developed the technique and last year trained Dr. Inabnet and Gustavo Fernandez- Ranvier, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

TOETVA2-RT

William B. Inabnet III, MD, and Angkoon Anuwong, MD, front row left, and center, respectively, with some of the workshop attendees.

The TOETVA approach is the latest of three remote access, or “hidden-scar,” endoscopic thyroidectomy techniques to be pioneered by Mount Sinai physicians. The robotic bilateral axillo-breast (BABA) approach was performed for the first time in the United States in 2015 at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, by Hyunsuk Suh, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery. It involves four small incisions to the breasts and axilla (underarms) and is an option for larger thyroid glands and select cases of thyroid cancer. (Dr. Suh also performed the first BABA lymph node dissection for thyroid cancer in January 2017.) In the transaxillary approach, one incision is made in the underarm, which allows the thyroid gland to be reached from the side. Mount Sinai is the only institution in the United States, and one of only a few in the world, to offer all three types of hidden-scar thyroid procedures.

“The addition of the transoral route with the introduction of TOETVA is a natural evolution of our growing program and our interest in these minimally invasive approaches,” says Dr. Inabnet.

While workshop attendees received an overview on the BABA and transaxillary techniques, TOETVA was the focal point of instruction, which included a live surgery demonstration of two TOETVA cases. The Mount Sinai Endocrine Surgery Thyroid Program plans to host three additional workshops in March, June, and July.

“Mount Sinai’s reputable standing in the field of minimally invasive surgery is a result of the work being done across multiple divisions within the Health System,” says Michael L. Marin, MD, the Dr. Julius H. Jacobson II Chair in Vascular Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief at the Mount Sinai Health System. “We are proud to bring TOETVA to the American population and further establish the Health System’s commitment to providing care that is consistently on the forefront of surgical innovation.”

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This

Share this post with your friends!

Share This

Share this post with your friends!

Shares