Complications following thyroid procedures at King Hussein Medical Center, Jordan

الملخص EN

Background: In the eighteenth century, the frequency of mortality from various operative thyroid procedures was approximately 40% due to postoperative complications such as bleeding and infection.

Currently, the major postoperative complications of operative thyroid procedures include infection, airway obstruction due to hematoma or bleeding, hypocalcaemia, and recurrent or superior laryngeal nerve insults.

Objectives: To evaluate the incidence of complications after different operative thyroid procedures performed for benign and malignant disorders.

Methods: Our retrospective investigation included 197 patients of both sexes who were scheduled for operative thyroid procedures for different thyroid disorders (benign and malignant) at King Hussein Hospital, King Hussein Medical Centre in Amman, Jordan, between 2012 and 2015.

The operative thyroid procedures included total thyroidectomy, near-total thyroidectomy, subtotal thyroidectomy, hemithyroidectomy and isthmusectomy.

Recognising recurrent laryngeal nerves and parathyroid glands was mandatory.

The incidence of complications following different operative thyroid procedures was evaluated.

The postoperative complications and their frequencies were evaluated using Fisher’s exact test.

P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results: Hemithyroidectomy, isthmusectomy, and subtotal, near-total and total thyroidectomies were performed in 85 (43.1%), 16 (8.1%), 22 (11.2%), 26 (13.2%) and 48 (24.4%) patients, respectively.

The overall incidence of complications after surgery was 18.3% (n = 36).

Hypocalcaemia (n = 16, 8.1%) and recurrent laryngeal nerve insults (n = 14, 7.1%) were the most frequent complications after surgery.

Conclusion: Hypocalcaemia and recurrent laryngeal nerve insult after surgery were the most frequent complications after different operative thyroid procedures.