Transoral thyroidectomy associated with higher postoperative pain levels compared to conventional thyroidectomy

The study compared postoperative pain levels between transoral and conventional transcervical thyroidectomy. After matching patients based on six covariates, the transoral group had higher pain scores than the conventional group from day 1 to day 6 post-surgery, with no significant difference at 1 month. Among transoral procedures, the endoscopic approach had significantly higher pain scores than the robotic approach on days 1 and 3 post-surgery. The study concluded that postoperative pain was significantly higher in transoral thyroidectomy compared to conventional thyroidectomy, particularly during the early postoperative period.