A preliminary study on post surgical complications after thyroidectomy in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Abstract

Thyroidectomy is surgical removal of a partial or complete thyroid gland in case of hyperthyroidism, thyroid cancer and goiter. This removal of thyroid gland could develop post-surgical complications. A retrospective study was done in Hospital Pulau Pinang by reviewing 30 medical records of the patients who had thyroid disease and undergone thyroidectomy. Random sampling was carried out by collecting patient medical records from January 2010 to December 2011. Demographic data such as sex, race, age, marital status and occupation were recorded. Diagnosis, type of thyroidectomy and complications occurred at post operative status were also recorded. A total of 30 patients undergoing thyroidectomy had been observed in this study. Socio-demographics data shows that 63.33% were females and 36.67% were males with multiple ethnics of 53.33% Chinese, 33.33% Malay and Indians 13.33%. The age of the patients was above 18 years with more than 60% ranging between 30 to 59 years and 76.67% were married. Mostly they work in private sector (53.33%), government (6.67%) and self-employed (6.67%). Solitary thyroid nodule, papillary thyroid carcinoma, and follicular thyroid lesions were among the major diagnosis. Only total thyroidectomy and hemithyroidectomy were employed for thyroid surgery. Among the post surgical complications, hypothyroidism, hypocalcaemia, hoarseness of voice and hematoma were mostly observed in the patients. Based on this preliminary study we found that Chinese female has high risk of getting thyroid disorders and had undergone thyroidectomy for their treatment. Solitary thyroid nodule is the highest reason for undertaking thyroidectomy followed by papillary thyroid cancer. Hypothyroidism and hypocalcemia were the common post surgical complications observed.