# Robotic BABA Thyroidectomy How a thyroid gland is removed through small openings in the armpits and chest, with a robot arm doing the surgery and leaving no scar on the neck\. By clever\-heron\-25a4045a Topic: Human Body & Medicine [Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/GDl42jpJrBnW) ## Transcript ### 1. Thyroid surgery with no neck scar Some people need part or all of their thyroid gland taken out\. In robotic BABA surgery, doctors reach it without cutting the neck at all\. Let's follow how it is done\. Drag the scene to look around\. Scroll or pinch to move closer\. ### 2. Meet the butterfly The thyroid is a small butterfly\-shaped gland at the front of the neck, wrapped around the windpipe just below the Adam's apple\. Its hormones set the pace of the whole body\. Right behind it lie a thin voice nerve and four tiny parathyroid glands, which the surgeon must protect\. Each parathyroid gland is about the size of a grain of rice\. They control calcium in the blood\. ### 3. Four tiny doorways BABA stands for Bilateral Axillo\-Breast Approach: both armpits and both sides of the chest\. The surgeon draws guide lines, then makes four small cuts, each about one centimetre long\. Two sit at the edge of the darker skin around the nipples, and two are hidden in the armpits\. The camera goes in through a 12 millimetre doorway\. The three instruments each use an 8 millimetre one\. ### 4. A tunnel under the skin Salt water with a little medicine is injected first, to lift the skin and reduce bleeding\. A smooth rod then opens a flat tunnel just under the skin, over the chest muscle and up to the neck\. A gentle puff of carbon dioxide gas holds the space open like a tent\. The gas pressure is only 5 to 6 millimetres of mercury, far less than the pressure in your blood vessels\. ### 5. The robot docks The robot rolls in from the head of the table\. Its four arms line up with the four doorways: one holds a 3D camera and three hold slim instruments with tiny wrists\. Press the button to bring it in\. The patient's head is tilted up a little so the arms line up with the neck\. ### 6. The surgeon steers every move The surgeon sits at a console a few steps away and looks into a magnified 3D view\. Hand controls and foot pedals steer the arms\. The robot only copies the surgeon's hands, smoothing out any tremble, and never moves on its own\. The instrument wrists can bend and turn more freely than a human wrist inside such a small space\. ### 7. Freeing the thyroid gently The surgeon parts the thin strap muscles along the middle of the neck\. Tiny blood vessels are sealed with gentle heat as the gland is lifted free\. Watch the glowing voice nerve and parathyroid glands: they are carefully kept safe\. A small sensor on the breathing tube can check that the voice nerve is still working\. ### 8. Out through an armpit The freed gland is placed in a small pouch\. The pouch slides back through the tunnel and out of the armpit doorway, which is opened a little wider\. Press the button to bring it out\. The removed tissue goes to a laboratory to be examined\. ### 9. Healing, hidden The robot rolls away, the strap muscles are stitched together and the four doorways are closed with stitches under the skin\. The small scars hide in the armpits and at the edge of the nipples, instead of across the neck\. The whole operation usually takes about three to three and a half hours\. A usual open operation leaves a neck scar about 5 centimetres long\.