How to Avoid and Manage Mental Nerve Injury in Transoral Thyroidectomy

Transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy by vestibular approach (TOETVA) represents an innovative and scar- less technique for thyroid surgery. The procedure is conducted via a three-port technique at the oral vestibule using a 10mm port for the 30° endoscope and two additional 5mm ports for the dissecting and coagulating instruments. Patients meeting the following criteria can be considered as candidates for TOETVA: (a) an ultrasonographically (US) estimated thyroid diameter ≤10cm; (b) US-estimated gland volume ≤45mL; (c) nodule size ≤50mm; (d) presence of a benign tumor, such as a thyroid cyst or a single- or multinodular goiter; (e) Bethesda 3 and/or 4 categories, and (f) papillary microcarcinoma without the evidence of metastasis. Beyond the classic complications of thyroid surgery, namely cervical hematoma, recurrent laryngeal nerve injury and hypoparathyroidism, novel consequences can occur as mental nerve (MN) injury. In this paper, leading experts in the field report on their current clinical experience with the TOETVA approach for thyroid gland surgery, with emphasis given to tips and tricks to avoid and manage MN injury.