Abstract:Objective To compare the short-term clinical outcomes of thyroid surgery via oral vestibular approach and the total areola approach, preliminary explore the safety of thyroid surgery via oral vestibular approach.Methods Clinical data of patients receiving endoscopic thyroid surgery via the oral vestibule (n = 50) and the total areola approach (n = 101) from 2018 March to 2020 March were collected. After the 1∶1 propensity score matching, 50 matched pairs were obtained. Then the surgical outcomes between the two groups were compared.Results Compared with the patients in the areola approach group, the cavity-building time [(39.9 ± 10.0) and (32.7 ± 7.2) min, P < 0.01] and operation time [(194.3 ± 32.4) and (159.3 ± 33.7) min, P < 0.01] in the oral vestibular approach group were significant longer, the drainage volume on the postoperative day 1 decreased significantly [(50.8 ± 22.7) and (64.8 ± 34.8) mL, P = 0.019], and the total cost was higher [(23 626.5 ± 5 217.6) and (17 879.7 ± 3 534.7) yuan, P < 0.05]. There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of intraoperative blood loss, total drainage volume, drainage period, postoperative hospital stay, and postoperative complications.Conclusion Compared with the areola approach, although the thyroid surgery via the oral vestibular approach is slightly longer and more expensive, there is no significant difference in surgical complications and length of hospitalization. For patients with cosmetic requirements, thyroid surgery via the oral vestibular approach is a safe option.