AN AUDIT OF THYROID SURGERY: THE HYDERABAD EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Objective: To make an audit of thyroid surgery performed in two private hospitals at Hyderabad.
Study design: Descriptive study.
Place and duration of study: This study was carried out at two private hospitals, mainly at Isra University Hospital, Hyderabad over a period of three years from April 2005 to March 2008.
Patients and Methods: 140 patients with goiter were operated after complete investigative work up during the above mentioned period. Various complications of thyroid surgery and histopathology reports were noted and compared with national and international literature.
Results: The benign lesions were 89% while 11% lesions were malignant. Papillary carcinoma was the most common malignant lesion while colloid goiter was the most common benign lesion. The overall complication rate was 10.7%, hypocalcaemia being the most frequent complication followed by recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury.
Conclusion: Colloid goiter is the most common benign lesion of the thyroid gland while papillary carcinoma is the most common malignant lesion of thyroid gland. The major complications of thyroid surgery were hypocalcaemia and RLN injury.