The various complications of thyroid surgery have long been known to surgeon embarking on the surgical treatment of goitre. These complications may be severe enough to jeoparadize the life of the patient or create a physical or physiological incapacity. The important complications of thyroid surgery today remain the same as those in Kocher´s day.
This paper reports the result of study of various cmplications of thyroid surgery operated upon 420 cases of various thyroid diseases during 6 years period at Department of General Surgery, N.M.C.
For convenience´ sake, the thyroid diseases are classified as follows:
1) Adenoma: 144 cases (34.2%)
2) Hyperthyroidism: 157 cases (37%)
3) Thyroiditis: 420 cases (10%)
4) Adenomatous goitre: 30 cases (7.7%)
5) Cancer: 47 cases (1.1%)
In our study, the kinds and numbers of complications are as follows:
Myxedema: 5 cases, Tetany: 15 cases, Crisis: 8 cases, Paralysis of recurrent largngeal nerve: 17 cases, Wound infection: 36 cases, Recurrence: 3 cases, Bleeding requiring reoperation: 4 cases, Malignant change: 1 case, Keloid formation: 1 case. The mortality rate was less than 0.3%(1 case).
The complications are discussed in detail according to the type of thyroid disease present. Operation remains an effective means of treating patient with hyperthyroidism.
We believe thyroidectomy is the best treatment for nodular goitr with secondary hyperthyroidism and nodular goitre which is causing pressure on the trechea or in which there is any suspicion of cancer. Thyroidectomy is the only curative treatment for thyroid cancer. Regardless of the type of thyroid diseases, surgical removal should involve little risk and a low incidence of complication.
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