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ArticleEuropean 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 Surgery2026

Voice outcomes following robotic transoral, robotic retroauricular, and open hemithyroidectomy.

Chee Chean Lim, Haidatul Insyirah Sahimi, Mohd Zulkiflee Bin Abu Bakar, Seo-Young Kim, Jeong-Yeon Ji, Wonjae Cha, Woo-Jin Jeong

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Article in 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. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Chee Chean LimDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 300 Gumi-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam, 13620, Korea.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4262-6995
Haidatul Insyirah SahimiClinical Research Department, National Heart Institute, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Mohd Zulkiflee Bin Abu BakarDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Seo-Young KimDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Chung-Ang University Hospital, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2564-9757
Jeong-Yeon JiDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 300 Gumi-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam, 13620, Korea.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7070-8560
Wonjae ChaDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 300 Gumi-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam, 13620, Korea.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7292-9474
Woo-Jin JeongDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 300 Gumi-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam, 13620, Korea. safar00@snu.ac.kr.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8577-6964

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeConsidering the favourable prognosis of thyroid tumours, the importance of quality of life, including functional and voice outcomes, is critically important. The impact of remote-access thyroidectomy on postoperative voice function remains unclear, and direct comparative data across major approaches are limited. This study compared patient-reported and objective voice outcomes following robotic transoral (TO), robotic retroauricular (RA), and open hemithyroidectomy.

methodsThis retrospective observational cohort study included patients undergoing hemithyroidectomy between January 2022 and August 2025. Voice outcomes were evaluated preoperatively and at 3 months postoperatively using the Voice Handicap Index-10 and acoustic analysis. Between-group comparisons and multivariable general linear modelling were performed to identify factors associated with postoperative voice outcomes.

resultsA total of 150 patients were analysed (RA: 58; TO: 37; open: 55). Baseline VHI-10 and acoustic parameters were comparable across groups. The RA group demonstrated significantly higher postoperative VHI-10 scores and greater VHI-10 change scores compared with TO and open approaches (p < 0.01). No significant differences were observed in postoperative acoustic parameters, including jitter, shimmer, noise-harmonic ratio, soft phonation index, pitch range, or fundamental frequency. Female subgroup analysis demonstrated similar findings. On multivariable analysis, postoperative VHI-10 remained to be only affected by the type of surgical approach.

conclusionAll three surgical approaches showed comparable objective acoustic voice parameters. However, TO and open hemithyroidectomy were associated with better patient-perceived voice outcomes at 3 months compared with RA. When clinical conditions are comparable, TO may be considered as a viable robotic approach in patients who prioritise short-term subjective voice outcomes.

Indexed as

Retroauricular thyroidectomyRobotic thyroidectomyTransoral approachVoice handicap index

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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.