The history of thyroid and parathyroid surgery dates back thousands of years, but the developments leading to the contemporary era began just over a century ago. Pioneers in the field include Billroth, Kocher, Mayo, and Halsted. The cornerstone of safe and effective thyroid surgery is thorough training in and understanding of thyroid anatomy and pathology. With appropriate techniques, total thyroid lobectomy and total thyroidectomy can be undertaken with minimal risk of damage to the recurrent laryngeal nerves, the external branches of the superior laryngeal nerves, and the parathyroid glands. Safe surgery procedure requires a specific operative plan, progressing in a series of logical, orderly, anatomically based steps. This article to aim, the historical progress of operating on the thyroid and the impact of physiology on surgery, surgical anatomy for thyroid, complications of surgery and recent advances in technics.
Keywords: thyroidectomy, servical anatomy, surgical techniques