Early post-operative complications after thyroidectomy for benign goiters

ABSTRACT

To find frequency of early complications after thyroid surgery for benign thyroid conditions. Quasi-experimental study. Combined Military Hospital [CMH] Lahore, from March 2005 to Sep 2007.Early complications after thyroid surgery for benign thyroid conditions were studied. One hundred patients with FNAC confirmed benign goiter or follicular growth admitted for elective thyroidectomies were included in the study. Data was collected in the pre-designed proforma and entered in SPSS-10 version. Descriptive statistics was used to calculate frequency of each complication in the early post-thyroidectomy period. The frequency of complications after thyroidectomy was 27%. Out of them 8 patients [8%] developed subcutaneous haematoma, 5 patients [5%] wound infection, 4 patients [4%] tension haematoma, 4 patients [4%] hypocalcaemia, 3 patients [3%] respiratory obstruction and 3 patients [3%] developed recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis. Surgery for benign thyroid enlargement but may be associated with significant numbers of post operative complications including wound haematoma, wound infection and hypocalcaemia