Background and Objectives: To answer the research question: “Is prophylactic central neck lymph node dissection (pCNLD) beneficial among differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) patients?” Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study enrolling DTC patients treated at the University Hospital Kaspela, Bulgaria, from 30 January 2019 to October 2021. The predictor variable was presence of pCNLD (total thyroidectomy with vs. without pCNLD). The main outcome variables were postoperative complications (i.e., vocal cord paralysis, hypoparathyroidism, postoperative bleeding, and adjacent organ injury) and recurrence parameters. Appropriate statistics were computed with the significant level at p ≤ 0.05. Results: During the study period, 300 DTC patients (59.7% with pCNLD; 79.3% females) with an average age of 52 ± 2.8 years were treated. The mean follow-up period of the entire cohort was 45.8 ± 19.1 months. On bivariate analyses, TT with pCNLD, when compared to TT alone, required longer surgical time (mean difference: 9.4 min), caused nearly similar complications (except transient hypothyroidism: p = 0.04; relative risk, 1.32; 95% confidence interval, 1.0 to 1.73), and no significantly different recurrence events, time to recurrence, and recurrent sites. The benefit–risk analyses using the number needed to treat and to harm (NNT; NNH) also confirmed that TT plus pCNLD was not very beneficial in DTC management. Conclusion: The results of this study refute the benefit of pCNLD in DTC patient care with TT. Further well-designed studies in a larger cohort with a longer follow-up period are required to confirm this conclusion.

Introduction: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) usually present as an exophytic mass localized in stomach. Years ago, conventional surgery was the only option. Laparoscopic and robotic procedures have risen to prominence in recent decades as technology and surgical techniques have advanced.Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of robotic surgery of GIST.Materials and methods: All patients who underwent robotic surgery for a GIST in the University Hospital Kaspela-Plovdiv between November 2021 and April 2022 were included. Post-operative course and short oncological outcomes were analyzed.Results: Four patients with gastric GIST, median size 50 mm [40–70 mm], underwent robotic surgery. Conversion to open surgery not occurred. We have two cases with localization in corpus, one in antrum and one in the fundus. We have registered one complicationsanastomotic leakage after proximal resection treated conservatively. In others, the post-operative period was uneventful. The average hospital stay was 8.2 (4-11) days. The median operating time was 255 min (220–320 min).Conclusions: On basis of this initial results, we can conclude that robotic gastrointestinal tumors surgery is safe, feasible, and oncological sustained. Of course, one of the weakest sides of this surgery is prolonged operative time and increased expenses.