Abstract:Background and Aims The robotic scope holder is a robot-assisted camera holding system, by which, the surgeon can control the scope movement via a joystick, and a precise and stable surgical field of vision can be secured, and meanwhile, one participating surgeon will be spared. So, it is very suitable for meticulous operation in a narrow space such as endoscopic thyroid surgery. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the application efficacy of the robotic scope holder in endoscopic transthoracic thyroid surgery.Methods The clinical data of 80 patients with benign thyroid disease undergoing endoscopic transthoracic thyroid surgery from January 2019 to December 2020 in the Department of General Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Bengbu Medical College were retrospectively analyzed. Of the patients, the scope was held by robotic scope holder in 42 cases (observation group) and was held by the second surgeon in 38 cases (control group). The main clinical variables between the two groups of patients and the subjective perception of the same team of operating surgeons who performed the operations of the two groups were compared.Results There were no significant differences in general data such as age, sex, BMI, tumor diameter, surgical approach and pathology between the two groups of patients (all P>0.05). The operations were successfully completed in all patients, without conversion to open surgery, and conversion from robotic to manual holding. The operative time in observation group was significantly shorter than that in control group (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the intraoperative blood loss, volume of postoperative drainage, drainage time, length of postoperative hospital stay, hospitalization cost and incidence of complications between the two groups (all P>0.05). No serious postoperative complications were noted in both groups of patients. Questionnaire survey on the subjective perception of the operating surgeons showed that observation group was significantly superior to control group in terms of visual field accuracy and visual field stability, as well as the sense of operation during surgery (all P<0.05), while there was no statistical significance with regard to visual fatigue between the two groups (P>0.05).Conclusion The application of robotic scope holder is safe and feasible in the operation for benign thyroid diseases. Compared with manual holding, the complexity of intraoperative procedures is relatively increased, but the number of participating surgeons is reduced, the operative time is shortened. It can provide a more accurate and stable surgical vision for surgeon and thereby improve the surgical efficiency.