Background: The long-term oncologic outcome of robotic surgery for thyroid cancer is not well established. The aim of this study was to predict the long-term oncologic outcome of robotic surgery by using dynamic risk stratification in classic papillary thyroid carcinoma.
Methods: A total of 444 propensity score-matched pairs of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma treated with robotic surgery and conventional open surgery were classified into 4 response-to-therapy categories. The results were compared between the robotic surgery and open surgery groups.
Results: The median follow-up duration was 60 months. After propensity score matching, the robotic surgery group showed less extensive thyroid surgery and lymph node dissection and a higher proportion of patients who underwent radioactive iodine remnant ablation than the open surgery group; however, the dynamic risk stratification did not differ between the 2 groups (P = .086).
Conclusion: The long-term oncologic outcome of robotic surgery is expected to be comparable with that of open surgery based on the dynamic risk stratification.
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