COMMENTARY Advanced approaches for thyroid surgery

Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to con-tent are disclosed at the end of this article. Over the past several years, new surgical approaches to the thyroid have been described, and efforts to further refine thyroid surgery continue. These new approaches can be classified by the anatomic location that access is obtained and whether CO2 insufflation is necessary for the procedure to be performed. While these new approaches provide the potential for exciting innovation, more work should be done to refine some of these techniques and study the implications of adopting them from the perspective of patient outcomes and cost. © 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation. All rights reserved. Over the past several years, new surgical approaches tothe thyroid have been described, and efforts to furthe