title: Evaluating the Time Interval for Presenting the Signs of Hypocalcaemia after Thyroidectomy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Thyroidectomy is one of the most prevalent treatments for thyroid malignancies. It has very low rate of complications except the hypocalcaemia. Only a small number of studies have evaluated the clinical signs of hypocalcaemia but no study have reported the time interval between the procedure and signs of hypocalcaemia.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to determine that time interval in those patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical files of a group of patients who underwent thyroidectomy were reviewed. Demographic characteristics of the patients and the time interval to hypocalcaemia were recorded and analysed by SPSS software. p-value <0.05 was considered significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and eight patients, 65 women (60.2%) and 43 men (39.8%) with a mean age of 42.6+12.2 years were included. Perioral numbness was reported in 30 (27.8%) patients while 29 (26.8%) patients had lip numbness. Numbness in extremities and muscle spasm were found in 19 (17.6%) and 13 (12%) patients respectively. Seizure was reported in 3 (2.8%) patients. The Trousseau and Chvostek signs were found in 17 (15.7%) and 9 (8.3%) patients respectively. Only the Trousseau sign was different between the two surgical groups. The mean time interval was 41.25±11.5 hours postoperatively. However the time interval was shorter for the total thyroidectomy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Physical examination is useful for diagnosing hypocalcaemia due to the presentation of sings during the first 48 hours of thyroidectomy. Total thyroidectomy is associated with shorter time interval.
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of General Surgery, Rasool-e-Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran, Iran .
authors.forename: Mostafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hosseini
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of General Surgery, Rasool-e-Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran, Iran .
authors.forename: Hamidreza Alizadeh
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Otaghvar
authors.affiliation: Resident, Department of General Surgery, Rasool-e-Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran, Iran .
authors.forename: Adnan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tizmaghz
authors.affiliation: General Physician, Department of Paediatric Surgery, Mofid Children Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences , Tehran, Iran .
authors.forename: Ghazaal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shabestanipour
authors.affiliation: General Physician, Department of General Surgery, Rasool-e-Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran, Iran .
authors.forename: Parichehr Atef
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Vahid
keywords: Parathyroid failure- occurrence; Postoperative; Thyroid surgery