The necessity of resection of suprasternal fossa fat in total endoscopic thyroidectomy via the areola approach.

The identification of a lower boundary for the central lymph node (CLN) of the neck in total endoscopic thyroidectomy via the areola approach (ETA) is important for its radical dissection. We found that resection of the suprasternal fossa fat (SFF) was beneficial for exposing the lower boundary and preventing suprasternal swelling after the operation. This retrospective analysis included 470 papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) cases, with some treated by unilateral lobectomy, some by central lymph node dissection (CLND) through ETA (n = 193), and the others by conventional open thyroidectomy (COT, n = 277). The main observation indicators included the total number of CLNs, CLND operative time, visualization of the upper pole of the thymus before removing the CLN, and postoperative suprasternal swelling. The SFF retention group and COT group had a similar percentage of women (78.65% vs. 79.42%, P = 0.876) lower than that in the SFF resection group (95.19%, P < 0.001). The percentage of the visualized upper pole of the thymus before CLN removal was notably higher in the SFF resection group than that in the SFF retention group (63.46 vs. 29.21%, P < 0.001) but notably lower than that in the COT group (63.46% vs. 100%, P < 0.001). A total of 43.82% and 23.1% of patients in the SFF retention and COT groups showed suprasternal swelling, respectively. No patient exhibited such swelling in the SFF resection group (23.1% vs. 0, P < 0.001). Resection of SFF in ETA easily identified the lower boundary for CLND and prevented suprasternal fossa swelling.