Total Thyroidectomy - Post Procedure Healing of Thyroidectomy

The operation should be performed only by experienced surgeons to reduce the chance of complications:

• Early postoperative bleeding causing tracheal compression and asphyxia is a rare emergency requiring immediate removal of all clips/sutures to allow escape of the blood/haematoma.
• Laryngeal nerve palsy occurs in 1%. Vocal chord movement should be checked preoperatively. Mild hoarseness is more common and thyroidectomy is best avoided in professional singers!
• Transient hypocalcaemia occurs in up to 10% but with permanent hypoparathyroidism in fewer than 1%.
• Recurrent hyperthyroidism occurs in 1-3% within 1 year, then 1% per year.
• Hypothyroidism occurs in about 10% of patients within 1 year, and this percentage increases with time. It is likeliest if TPO antibodies are positive. Automated computer thyroid registers with annual TSH screening are used in some regions, and have demonstrated that a high proportion of patients become hypothyroid in the long term.

WHAT ARE THE INDICATIONS FOR Thyroidectomy?

Thyroid surgery (thyroidectomy) may be required if there is:

• A lump that could be a malignant tumour (thyroid cancer). This is usually determined by a fine needle biopsy of the lump.
• Growth of your thyroid down into the chest cavity (a retrosternal goitre)
• Excessive activity of the thyroid (hyperthyroidism or thyrotoxicosis)
• A goitre (enlargement of the thyroid) causing pressure on surrounding organs resulting in symptoms such as difficulty swallowing, difficulty breathing or a persistent cough.

Hyperthyroidism

Choice of therapy

Indications for either surgery or radioiodine are:

• patient choice
• persistent drug side-effects
• poor compliance with drug therapy
• recurrent hyperthyroidism after drugs.

Particular indications for surgery include:

• a large goitre, which is unlikely to remit after antithyroid medication.

Why would the thyroid be taken out when it is not making enough thyroid hormones--that seems backwards(?) 

In the case of hypothyroidism, the gland may grow bigger as it tries futilely to produce sufficient amounts of hormones; thyroidectomy would be appropriate when hypothyroidism is accompanied by such resultant hypertrophy.

  Hemochromatosis
  Siderosis
  Anemia
  Thalassemia
  Sideroblastic anemia
  Porphyria cutanea tarda
  Sickle-cell anemia
  Wilsons Disease
  kwashiorkor
  Menkes syndrome
  Neutropenia
  Keratomalacia
  Xerophthalmia
  Prophylaxis
  Rhodopsin
  Bitot's spots
  Beriberi
  Pellagra
  Macrocytic anemia
  Megaloblastic anemia
  Pernicious anemia
  Scurvy
  Rickets
  Osteomalacia
  Abetalipoproteinemia
  Muscular dystrophy
  Haemolytic anaemia
  Cholestatic Jaundice Constipation
  Myxedema
  Cretinism
  Hypothyroidism
  Hypothyroidism symptom
  Losing weight with hypothyroidism
  Subclinical hypothyroidism
  Congenital hypothyroidism
  Hashimotos thyroiditis
  Postpartum thyroiditis
  Hyperthyroidism
  Hyperthyroidism symptom
  Feline hyperthyroidism
  Graves disease
  Thyrotoxicosis
   Plummer's disease
  Thyroid storm
  Fluorosis
  Acrodermatitis enteropathica
  Metal fume fever
  Keshan disease
Metabolic Syndrome