Vol. 5, Issue 4 (2016)

Material and Methods: Over the course of a year, 50 patients undergoing thyroid surgery at a tertiary care hospital were observed in a prospective research. From April 2015 to March 2016, researchers from the Maharajah's Institute of Medical Sciences in Nellimarla, Andhra Pradesh, India, undertook this investigation. People with benign or malignant thyroid disease who underwent a complete or partial thyroidectomy and were between the ages of 18 and 65 were eligible to participate. People who had coagulopathies, insufficient follow-up, or had undergone neck surgery in the past were not eligible. Potential risks to patients included RLN palsy, bleeding, infections at the surgical site, and temporary or permanent hypocalcemia.

Results: A mean age of 42.3 ± 11.5 years was recorded for the 50 patients, with 38 (or 76%) being female and 12 (or 24%) being male. Sixty percent of cases requiring surgical intervention involved multinodular goiter. In 34 cases, total thyroidectomy was done (68% of the time), while in 16 cases, partial thyroidectomy was done (32% of the time). Complications following surgery occurred in 30% of cases overall. Ten individuals (20%) experienced transient hypocalcemia, whereas two patients (4% of the total) developed lifelong hypocalcemia. There was no evidence of persistent nerve damage, and three individuals (6% of the total) experienced transient RLN palsy. One patient, accounting for 2% of the total, required re-exploration due to post-operative bleeding. Two instances (four percent) were found to have wound infections.

Conclusion: Postoperative complications from thyroid surgery are uncommon but serious; the most common of them is temporary hypocalcemia. Minimizing these issues and improving patient outcomes requires a comprehensive grasp of surgical anatomy, precise technique, and attentive post-operative monitoring.