[Risk of hypocalcemia after thyroid surgery].

AIM: To reveal calcium metabolism disorders that frequently occur after thyroid surgery. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 202 patients who underwent thyroid surgery for different diseases and had normal calcium level in peripheral blood at baseline. RESULTS: Based on laboratory data postoperative hypocalcemia was diagnosed in 57 (28.8%) patients. It was not always accompanied by clinical symptoms. Clinical picture depended on degree of hypocalcemia. Symptoms was diagnosed more frequently if calcium concentration was less than 2.1 mmol/l. Clinical manifestations were absent in 64.9% of cases on background of hypocalcemia. Incidence of hypocalcemia was higher after thyroidectomy compared to organ-preserving surgery. Symptoms of hypocalcemia occurred after thyroidectomy only. Casual parathyroidectomy does not always cause hypocalcemia. Only in 14% of patients with hypocalcemia excised parathyroid was identified in specimen. At the same time 7.6% of patients with postoperative normocalcaemia also had excised parathyroids in specimens. Symptoms of hypocalcemia does not always occur at 1 day after surgery. They can appear later, for example at 5 days postoperatively and depend on severity of hypocalcemia. Thyroidectomy has high risk of postoperative hypocalcemia with clinical symptoms (19.6%) that is transient in 15.5% of cases and permanent in 4.1% of patients.

[Dynamics and pathogenesis of alterations in the bioelectrical activity of the brain following pneumoencephalography]. / K dinamike i patogenezu izmenenii bióelektricheskoi aktivnosti golovnogo mozga posle pnevmoéntsefalografii.

In 40 patients with remote sequalae of closed brain injury the authors studied the brain bioelectric activity before and following pneumoencephalography in dynamics. Changes in the EEG after PEG were seen in all cases in the form of decreased alpha-activity and a significant increase in the index of slow theta and delta waves. The dynamics in the EEG changes did not depend upon the clinical syndrome and were the same in patients with epileptical seizures, as well as in patients with posttraumatic syndrome. The EEG changes following PEG were transitory and were usually combined with distinct disturbances of metabolic-vegetative functions. This permits to allocate a certain place in the pathogenesis of detected EEG changes to the action of the air and x-ray on the brain membranes, as well as on the reticular structure, hypothalamic centers of metabolic-vegetative functions.