Management of Parapharyngeal Metastatic Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma Via a Combined Trans-Cervical and Trans-Oral Robotic Approach

Abstract

Introduction:

Medullary thyroid carcinoma constitutes 5% to 10% of all thyroid cancers. Metastatic adenopathies may pose challenges in intricate anatomical locations, such as the parapharyngeal space. A rare case of metastatic medullary thyroid carcinoma in the parapharyngeal space has been treated in our unit using combined trans-cervical trans-oral robotic surgery. Our objective was to provide a detailed description of the surgery performed on this patient.

Method:

We reported a singular case report worth of interest.

Result:

A 42-year-old woman was addressed in our unit for the management of a medullary thyroid carcinoma adenopathy located in the right parapharyngeal space. A parapharyngeal 40.0 mm × 25.0 mm × 12.0 mm adenopathy was removed using a combined trans-cervical and trans-oral robotic approach without sacrifice or injury of vascular or nervous structure. Neither the tracheostomy nor the feeding tube was implemented. Feeding was resumed on postoperative day 1 and hospitalization spanned 7 days.

Conclusion:

An innovative combined trans-cervical and trans-oral robotic surgery approach was conducted to address a metastatic medullary thyroid carcinoma in the parapharyngeal space. This surgical technique allowed us to circumvent the need for a trans-mandibular approach, tracheostomy, and feeding tube and enabling successful tumor removal without fragmentation. Postoperative care was significantly eased. The sole complication observed was dysphonia, likely resulting from intra-operative stretching of the vagus nerve during the dissection of the carotid artery.