Feasibility criteria for total thyroidectomy in outpatient surgery

INTRODUCTION: France is pursuing a policy of cutting healthcare costs, and outpatient surgery is one of the objectives of this policy. Thyroid surgery could be suitable for outpatient management, provided there is an appropriate patient selection process. The aim of this study was to assess the risk factors for postoperative complications in total thyroidectomy (TT). DESIGN: A single-center observational study was carried out from January 2010 to December 2015. METHOD: Correlations between, on the one hand, age, gender, obesity, history of surgery, antiplatelet and/or anticoagulation treatment, the surgeon\u27s experience, surgery time, repeated lymph node dissection, and surgical indication (cancer, lymphocytic thyroiditis, Graves\u27 disease or multinodular goiter) and, on the other hand, onset of postoperative complications (postoperative hypocalcemia, uni- or bi-lateral lesions of the recurrent laryngeal nerves, and premature compressive hematoma) were assessed. RESULTS: Four hundred and twenty-four consecutive TTs were included. 85 patients showed postoperative hypocalcemia (20.04%), 18 recurrent laryngeal nerve lesion (4.25%), and 4 compressive cervical hematoma (0.94%). Overall morbidity was 24.06%. Risk factors identified for postoperative hypocalcemia comprised: female gender [OR=3.2584; 95%CI (1.5500-7.7515); P=0.0036], surgery time [OR=1.0095; 95%CI (1.0020-1.0172); P=0.0129], and surgical indication for benign adenoma [OR=5.0642; 95%CI (1.7768-14.5904); P=0.0022]. None of the study variables emerged as risk factors for recurrent laryngeal nerve lesion. Repeated dissection increased the risk of re-do surgery for compressive hematoma [OR=25.1373; 95%CI (0.8468-32.2042); P=0.0347]. CONCLUSION: Surgery time, female gender, repeated dissection and total thyroidectomy for benign adenoma are risk factors that should be considered in decision-making for performing TT on an outpatient basis

Incidental thyroid papillary microcarcinoma: survival and follow-up

Objectives/Hypothesis : The aim was to study the survival of incidental thyroid papillary microcarcinoma patients treated with surgery for benign thyroid disease to validate absence of oncological follow‐up and reduce unnecessary health expenses. Study Design :Retrospective cohort study. Methods : We analyzed patient's files and interviewed 252 patients by telephone whose cases were submitted to the multidisciplinary meeting of thyroid pathology in Strasbourg, France, for incidental thyroid papillary microcarcinoma without clinical lymph node involvement, between January 1996 and December 2012. Results : Thirteen patients (5.8%) died while the data were being collected; however, none of the deaths were due to the thyroid pathology, and no patients showed signs of relapse of the thyroidectomy or cervical lymph node level. Conclusions : Our retrospective study shows that patients with incidental localized thyroid papillary microcarcinoma who underwent surgery without radioactive iodine treatment have an identical survival compared to the general population at the same age to validate absence of oncological follow‐up and reduce unnecessary health expenses