Profile and complication rate of thyroid surgeries performed in a tertiary care teaching hospital, a prospective observational study

Background: One of the most common endocrine disorder is the thyroid diseases. The prevalence and pattern of these conditions depends on sex, age, ethnic and geographic patterns. The incidence of thyroid nodules increases with the age hence benign and malignant thyroid disease is common in the elderly population. Aim: To compare the complication rate of various thyroid surgeries for benign and malignant diseases in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Methods: This study was a prospective observational study, Velammal medical college hospital at Tamil Nadu from December 2018-June 2019. The patients who underwent thyroid surgery for various thyroid disorders were enrolled in the study. Results: Out of117 cases, 107 were women and 10 were men. Multinodular goiter (MNG)was the most common (38.46%) condition, followed by solitary nodule (29.06%) and toxic MNG (18.8%). Among women, 40.19% were identified with multinodular goiter followed by solitary nodule (28.97%). Subtotal thyroidectomy was performed for 88.89% of MNGs, while 91.18% of the solitary nodule were managed by hemithyroidectomy Majority of the patients with toxic MNG underwent subtotal thyroidectomy with 99.91%. While 84.61% of the patients with thyroid cancer were treated by total thyroidectomy. The overall incidence of complications was 27.35%. The incidence rate of complications was high in patients with malignant disease, as compared to benign disease (69.23% in Malignant Vs 36.36% in toxic MNG and 24.44% in MNG). Conclusion: Through the present study, it was concluded that the complications associated with the different thyroid surgeries and various precautions that can be taken to reduce the complications.