Patna: A team of AIIMS-Patna doctors on Saturday performed a scarless surgery on a patient to remove a 4cm tumour from his thyroid gland.

Conventionally, a 6-12cm incision is made on the neck in a normal thyroidectomy procedure, leaving a long and permanent scar on a patient's neck. But in endoscopic thyroidectomy, as performed by the AIIMS team, two small incisions were made on the breast and axilla (armpit).

The thyroid gland is reached from beneath the skin with an instrument that is inserted into the small incision made on the breast and axilla. The tumour is dissected and removed without any external cut. Medical experts refer to this as a scarless surgery as no scars are left on the neck - very small scars are left on the breast (areola) and axilla.

AIIMS Patna is the first among government health facilities to have conducted this surgery in Bihar, confirmed endocrine surgeon Chandan Kumar Jha. "The surgery is more beneficial for women because in case they develop tumour in their thyroid region, the surgery guarantees them no visible scar," said the AIIMS doctor.

Jha teamed up with general surgeons Prashant Kumar Singh, Amarjeet Kumar and senior residents in the endocrinology department - Manish, Bhavna and Ravibhushan Singh - for the surgery on Jagdeo Path resident Ashok Rajak, 57.

Dr Jha said Rajak will be discharged in a day or two. He added that the 4cm tumour removed from Rajak's thyroid was not cancerous.

"Usually tumour or lumps develop in the thyroid but not all of them are cancerous but then it has to be removed because it can compress the trachea (windpipe), which can cause problem in breathing. Besides, the oesophagus can be compressed, causing problem in eating. If the tumour compresses the recurrent laryngeal nerve, it can make your voice hoarse. Experts also say that these non-cancerous tumours can develop into malignancies and cancerous later," said Jha.

Jha said: "The only difference between the normal procedure and endoscopic thyroidectomy is it doesn't leave any prominent scar. However, only trained doctors can conduct endoscopic thyroidectomy, as it is more complex. Conventional thyroidectomy takes only a hour-and-a-half, but the scarless procedure takes four-and-a half hours."

At Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Chandigarh, and AIIMS-Delhi, the surgery costs Rs 20,000-Rs 30,000. At AIIMS, a patient has to pay Rs 7,000-8,000.