s00464-011-1763-5)

I would like to thank Dr. Dionigi et al. for their interest inour paper entitled ‘‘Robotic Thyroidectomy by GaslessUnilateral Axillo-Breast or Axillary Approach: Our EarlyExperiences’’ [1]. I agree with their commentary. Endoscopicor robotic thyroidectomy by gasless unilateralaxillo-breast or axillary approach is not minimally invasivethyroid surgery [2, 3]. It is more invasive than conventionalopen thyroidectomy. The area dissected to expose thethyroid gland, the amount of drainage, and postoperativepain were more than with open thyroidectomy [1, 3]