Mortality, morbidity and long-term results in surgically treated hyperthyroid patients. Review of 597 cases.
An analysis is presented of 597 cases of Graves' disease or toxic multinodular goitre surgically treated in 1956-1980. The mortality rate was only 0.2%. The incidence of postoperative haemorrhage was 0.2%, damage to the recurrent laryngeal nerve 3.2%, postoperative thyrotoxic crisis 1.7%, acute hypoparathyroidism 2.2% and acute postoperative respiratory failure due to tracheomalacia 0.5%. Early complications were significantly more common among the patients with Grave's disease than in the multinodular goitre group. Thyroid function was re-evaluated in 116 patients after a mean postoperative interval of 9 years. Hyperthyroidism had recurred in ten of them and six were hypothyroid (8.6 and 5.2%). The evolution of the thyroid functional status was not significantly related to the pathology or to the sex or age of the patients.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006044:Goiter, Nodular / Q000601:surgery*; D006111:Graves Disease / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality*; D011379:Prognosis; D012008:Recurrence; D013960:Thyroid Function Tests; D013997:Time Factors