Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30126330›Full record

ArticleOtolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery2018

Learning Curve for Transoral Endoscopic Thyroid Lobectomy.

Christopher R Razavi, Elya Vasiliou, Ralph P Tufano, Jonathon O Russell

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
58citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

58 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Designing self-assessment tools for learning five instrumental clinical procedures in ENT: A modified Delphi consensus approach.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Review
  18. Review
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Christopher R Razavi1 Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Elya Vasiliou1 Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Ralph P Tufano1 Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Jonathon O Russell1 Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Funding

RESEARCH TRAINING IN OTOLARYNGOLOGYT32DC000027 · NIDCD · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI CAREY, JOHN PATRICK · 1989 to 2023
$5.5M
NIDCD NIH HHS T32 DC000027
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objective To define the learning curve for transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy via the vestibular approach (TOETVA). Study Design Case series with planned data collection. Setting Tertiary care academic hospital. Subjects and Methods Included patients were those who met the 2015 American Thyroid Association guidelines for lobectomy and our group's previously documented indications for TOETVA. Operative time (incision to closure) was used as a surrogate for procedural proficiency and plotted as a function of case number to determine a learning curve. A simple moving average of operative time was then calculated, with the proficiency case defined as the case number where the slope of this curve changed. Demographic/characteristic data, outcomes, and complications were compared between the skill acquisition period (case 1 to proficiency case) and the proficiency period (remaining cases). A linear regression model was then used to calculate and compare the slopes of the skill acquisition and proficiency periods in the "operative time versus case number" plot. Results Thirty cases were attempted, with a procedural success rate of 29 of 30 (94%) and no incidence of permanent mental nerve or recurrent laryngeal nerve injury. The proficiency case was case 11. There was a statistically significant difference between the skill acquisition and proficiency periods in slopes of the linear regressions (-16.7 vs -0.3, respectively; P < .001) and median operative times (191 vs 119 minutes, P < .001). There was no difference in demographics, procedural success rate, or complication rate between the periods. Conclusions The learning curve for TOETVA was 11 cases for the surgeon evaluated in this series.

Indexed as

Clinical CompetenceLearning CurveAcademic Medical CentersAdultDatabases, FactualFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedMouthNatural Orifice Endoscopic SurgeryOperative TimePostoperative ComplicationsRetrospective StudiesThyroidectomyThyroid Glandremote-access thyroidectomysurgical skill acquisitiontransoral thyroidectomy

Identifiers

PMID30126330
PMCPMC6214162

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.