RT Book, Section A1 Ellison, E. Christopher A1 Zollinger, Jr., Robert M. A1 Pawlik, Timothy M. A1 Vaccaro, Patrick S. A1 Bitans, Marita A1 Baker, Anthony S. SR Print(0) ID 1187823323 T1 Thyroidectomy, Subtotal T2 Zollinger’s Atlas of Surgical Operations, 11e YR 2022 FD 2022 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781260440850 LK accesssurgery.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1187823323 RD 2024/03/28 AB Thyroid surgery is typically categorized as subtotal or total (also called near-total) and further divided into right and left lobectomy. Subtotal surgery is characterized by leaving a small but appreciable amount of thyroid tissue in the thyroid bed that may allow the patient not to be hormone dependent and potentially decrease the risk of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury. The advantage of doing a total thyroidectomy is the decreased risk of recurrent disease (either goiter in patients with multinodular goiters or hyperthyroidism in hyperthyroid patients) and improved efficacy of radioactive iodine therapy for patients with differentiated thyroid cancer. The surgical technique for a total thyroidectomy is very similar to that for a subtotal (shown here) except for the amount of thyroid tissue left, which is none or 1–2 mm of tissue along the nerve.