Report

This is the 5th national report of data arising from the United Kingdom Registry of Endocrine and Thyroid Surgery (UKRETS). Since its inception in 2004, this database now holds information on over 71,000 operations for diseases of the thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal and endocrine pancreas.

Endocrine surgery continues to be consultant-led, with the primary surgeon being a consultant in the majority of cases. When trainees perform surgery, a consultant is usually the assistant, and dual-operating by two consultants is also frequently observed, particularly in adrenal surgery.

In adrenal surgery, interesting observations are made on: increasing rates of surgery for metastases to the adrenal gland; the relationship between lesion size and risk of malignancy; the uptake of the posterior endoscopic approach; and on surgical case-loads, particularly for rare diagnoses such as adreno-cortical carcinoma.