A study of monitoring of early postoperative serum calcium levels in total thyroidectomy and its role in predicting temporary or permanent hypocalcemia: a prospective observational study

ABSTRACT

Background: This aim of study was to evaluate the ability of consecutive measurements of serum calcium levels to predict clinically relevant post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia and to assess risk factors for post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia.Methods: The study design was a prospective observational study, total 65 patients who undergoing completion or total thyroidectomy. Serum calcium level was measured at the time of first follow up (nearly 20th postoperative day) and patient was examined for signs of hypocalcemia.Results: In this study, 65 patients of all age group included from 19 years to 78 years. The mean (±SD) age of the patients was 47.65±12.35 years with range from 19 to 78 years. The mean difference of calcium values after 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours and 48 hours post-operative period were statistically significant (p<0.001) between patients with hypocalcaemia and patient with normokalaemia in unpaired t-test.Conclusions: There was no significant increase in morbidity (including postoperative hypocalcaemia) in completion thyroidectomy compared to primary total thyroidectomy.