Scarless robotic thyroid surgery at Gemelli Hospital for the first time in Italy

"K-surgery" for scar-free thyroid removal is making its Italian debut at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome . This robotic surgical technique, called BABA (Bilateral Axillo-Breast Approach) , imported from South Korea , allows the thyroid to be removed through the armpit and breast , avoiding an incision in the neck. The first procedure in Italy was performed in September on a thirty-year-old woman from Abruzzo , who is now doing well and completely satisfied . Since then, Professor Marco Raffaelli , Professor of General Surgery at the Catholic University and Director of Endocrine and Metabolic Surgery at the Gemelli Hospital, has already performed around ten successful operations .

Robotic Thyroid Surgery (Gemelli Polyclinic Press Office)

BABA is a robotic thyroidectomy technique that involves four small incisions in the axilla and periareolar breast area , through which the robotic instruments reach the thyroid lodge . Unlike traditional surgery , no incision is made on the neck , thus avoiding visible scars . It is a remote access approach , which guarantees an excellent aesthetic result and a bilateral and symmetrical view of the thyroid lobes, amplified by the use of the robotic camera .

Robotic Thyroid Surgery (Gemelli Polyclinic Press Office)

The BABA technique was performed for the first time in 2008 at the Seoul National University Hospital . Professor Raffaelli says he was in South Korea to give a keynote lecture at the Korean Thyroid Association Congress and received a commemorative plaque from Professor Woong Youn Chung , the inventor of robotic thyroid surgery . During his stay, he visited the Ain Hospital in Incheon where Professor Jin Wook Yi , one of the leading experts in the BABA technique , operates, from whom he learned the method directly .