Outcomes and complications of thyroid surgery among the Sudanese patients

ABSTRACT

To reveal the outcomes and complications of post-thyroidectomy, a study was carried out on 1351 patients aged between 18 and and 76 years [mean, 43.9 years] of whom 945 were female [69.95%] and 406 [30.05%] were male patients [female to male ratio was 2.31]. The most common Indications for total thyroidectomy were diffuse goiter and multlnodular goiter [45.7% and 36.04%of cases respectively]. Incidence of malignancy was 41 cases [2.7%]. Of those patients with malignancy, thirty cases [73.2%] underwent an associated nodal dissection along with total thyroidectomy. The Incidence of postoperative wound haematoma was 0.6% [8 cases], wound infection was 0.4% [5 cases], and mortality rate was 0.0%. The Incidence of postoperative hypocalcaemia was 8.4% [113 cases]. Younger age was statistically associated with an Increased Incidence of hypocalcaemia [P<0.002], whereas sex [P=0.31], Indication for surgery [P=0.16], and associated neck dissection [P=0.13] were not. The Incidence of hyperthyroidism was 0.148% [2 cases]. The mean duration of hospital stay was 4.2 days and was unaffected by occurrence of postoperative hypocalcaemia. The Incidence of unilateral and bilateral vocal cord paralyses was 1.1% [23 cases] and 0.22% [3 cases], respectively. The study showed that there is an Increase of the Incidence of complications when the operation performed for carcinoma. This Increase may be due to the extent of disease found at operation or the less experienced surgeons. Postoperative hypocalcaemia is the most common immediate surgical complication of total thyroidectomy. Other complications, including recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, and haematoma formation