title: Retrosternal goiters: safety of surgical treatment.
abstract: Retrosternal goiters still pose a problem to expert endocrine surgeons. Whether surgery should be the treatment of choice or not remains controversial because of hypothetical increased morbidity rates associated with the surgical approach. Eighty-three patients were retrospectively reviewed for anesthetic risk, fibrobronchoscopic guidance for intubation, surgical technique, mortality and morbidity rates, and pathological findings. We found 6.09% of American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I, 41.46% of ASA II, 40.24% of ASA III, and 12.19% of ASA IV risk. Twelve patients (14.45%) required fibrobronchoscopic guidance for intubation. Only one patient required a sternotomy. No mortality occurred. Seven patients (8.43%) had major complications, but there were no instances of permanent recurrent laryngeal palsy or hypocalcemia. Pathological examination revealed 9.63% incidence of malignancy. Surgery should be the treatment of choice for retrosternal goiters because there is a significant incidence of malignancy and an acceptable morbidity rate.
authors.affiliation: Department of General and Digestive Surgery, Hospital Universitario de Valme, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Parra-Membrives
authors.forename: José Miguel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Blanco
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gómez-Rubio
authors.forename: Gumersindo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Recio-Moyano
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Diaz-Roldán
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006045:Goiter, Substernal / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000401:mortality; D016896:Treatment Outcome