title: Total thyroidectomy for benign thyroid diseases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review the indications for total thyroidectomy as the preferred option in certain benign diseases of the thyroid in order to prevent recurrence or future reoperations.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study of patients with benign thyroid diseases, carried out from January 1997 to December 2009, analyzing the data relating to age, surgical treatment and postoperative evolution.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age was 51.8 years (21/77), with the highest incidence in the fifth and sixth decades of life, with 34 (51.5%) patients. The most common preoperative diagnosis was nontoxic multinodular goiter, of which seven were also intrathoracic, followed by autoimmune thyroiditis; recurrent goiter occurred in 11 cases. Multinodular goiter was found in 37 (56.1%) patients, autoimmune thyroiditis in 22 (33.3%), follicular adenoma isolated in five (7.6%), Hurthle cell adenoma in two (3.0%). Sixteen patients (24.2%) had more than one histopathological diagnosis. Permanent injury of the recurrent nerve was observed in one patient (1.5%). There was no case of permanent hypoparathyroidism. There was no operative mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Total thyroidectomy is an operation that can be safely performed, with low incidence of permanent complications, which allows one to broaden its indications in various benign thyroid diseases, thus avoiding future recurrences and reoperations.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, RJ, Brazil. pietroaccetta@globo.com
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Accetta
authors.forename: Italo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Accetta
authors.forename: Antonio Carlos
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Accetta
authors.forename: Marcelo Sá de
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Accetta
authors.forename: Keila Borba
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Campos
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013959:Thyroid Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000379:methods*