Assessment of Thyroidectomies in Children at the ENT Department of the Thiès Regional Hospital, about 29 Cases over 16 Years (2003-2018)

Thyroidectomy is a complete or partial surgical removal of the thyroid gland. The aim was to review the particularities of thyroid surgery in children, to review our operative indications and our working method as well as the results by comparing them with the data in the literature. This was a retrospective study covering a sixteen-year period from January 2003 to December 2018. We collated 29 patient records from 3 to 15 years of age. The epidemiological aspect, the indication and the operative gesture, the anatomopathological result were studied. Data were processed using Epi Info version 3.5.4 and Microsoft Excel 2010. Our study shows that thyroid surgery in children accounted for 2% of all thyroidectomies performed (1350 cases). Females were most affected, with a sex ratio of 0.16. The mean age was 12 years, with extremes of 3 and 15 years. Three indication groups: Graves’ disease 62%, heteromulti nodular goiter (HMNG) 28%, thyroid nodule 10%. Thyroid surgery was total in 65.5% of cases; subtotal thyroidectomy in 20.7%. Partial thyroidectomy was performed in 13.7% of cases. We dissected 54 recurrent nerves, and the parathyroids were controlled. Drainage was systematic. We noted one complication (3.4%). It involved immediate postoperative dyspnea requiring a life-saving tracheotomy, and decanulation was performed 48 hours after surgery.