Abstract
Background: There is a lack of standardized guidelines regarding selection of appropriate thyroid surgery for patients with benign diseases. As a result, an inexperienced surgeon may select a more aggressive surgical option, which may increase the complication rate. The objective of this study was to compare the outcomes of thyroid surgical procedures for benign diseases with the expertise of the surgeon.Material and Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study from 1999 to 2018. The study setting is of a public sector tertiary care teaching hospital. Patients undergoing thyroid surgery (lobectomy with isthmusectomy, subtotal thyroidectomy (STT), near total thyroidectomy (NTT), or total thyroidectomy (TT)) were included. Expertise level 1, 2 and 3 (L1, L2, L3) of the surgeon was based on years of experience or number of thyroid surgeries to their credit. Postoperative complications (hypocalcemia, recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) damage, airway obstruction, hemorrhage and mortality) were measured against type of thyroid surgery and expertise of the surgeon.Results: A total of 833 thyroid surgeries were performed on 695 (83.43%) females and 138 (16.57%) males. About 502 (60.26%) STT, 228 (27.37%) TT, 61 (7.32%) NTT, 42 (5.04%) lobectomies with isthmusectomies were performed, with LI, 2, and 3 surgeons performing 21.25%, 45.74% and 33% of these procedures, respectively. Surgeons with L1, 2 and 3 levels of expertise caused 49.47%, 33.45% and 17.08% of adverse events, respectively. Permanent hypocalcemia, RLN damage and mortality were significantly more common in surgeries performed by L1 compared with L2 and L3 surgeons (P<.05). Transient and permanent hypocalcemia, transient and permanent RLN damage and mortality were significantly more common for total thyroidectomy compared to subtotal thyroidectomy (P<.01).Conclusions: Minimizing the occurrence of complications like permanent hypocalcemia, RLN damage and mortality, expertise of the surgeon and anticipated difficulty of the procedure needs to be taken into account while selecting a thyroid procedure.
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