Iqbal Hussain Udaipurwala, Shuja Farrukh, Shafique Soomro.
Total Thyroidectomy for bilateral benign multinodular goitre.
Pak J Otolaryngol Jan ;23(1):6-8.

Total thyroidectomy for benign diseases of the thyroid is a controversial issue because of its serious and permanent complications but on the other hand recurrence rate is high when the thyroid tissue is left behind. This study is done to assess the overall outcome after total thyroidectomy in patients with extensive and bilateral benign multinodular goitre. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective experimental study. PLACE & DURATION OF STUDY: This study was conducted at Jinnah Medical College Hospital and Zainab Panjwani Memorial Hospital, Karachi over a period of four years from January 2002 to December 2005. PATIENTS & METHODS: A total number of 47 patients were included in this study having extensive and bilateral benign multinodular goitre. Patients having predominantly unilateral disease, clear or suspicious malignancy and doubtful malignant cases were excluded. Total thyroidectomy was done in all the cases by capsular dissection method with either preservation or reimplantation of one parathyroid gland. RESULTS: The short and long term complications are as follows: temporary hypocalcaemia (16 pts), permanent hypocalcaemia (5 pts), temporary recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy (2 pt), permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy (1 pt), post operative bleeding requiring re-exploration (1 pts), stitch granuloma (1 pt) and tracheomalacia (1 pt). CONCLUSION: Complication rates are similar and comparable to other studies where sub-total or near total thyroidectomy was performed. So in our opinion total thyroidectomy is a better option in cases with extensive and bilateral benign multinodular goitre.

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