Thyroidectomy is the removal of a part or whole of the thyroid gland. Thyroid gland is a butterfly shaped gland located in the anterior part of the windpipe at the base of the neck which secretes hormones such as thyroxine in the blood. Thyroxine controls the basal metabolic rate of the body. Removal of thyroid is done to treat abnormality with the thyroid gland such as enlargement, cancer or overactive thyroid. The amount of gland to be removed depends upon the extent of abnormality and hence given various names to the surgery like partial or total thyroidectomy or lobectomy.
Thyroid removal surgery is recommended not only for cancerous causes but also for benign conditions. Following are the reasons for the removal of thyroid
There are some risks associated with every surgery. Thyroid surgery is a safe surgery relatively but there may be some risks like
The chances of risks and complications are lesser when performed by experienced surgeons.
Most of the thyroid surgeries are elective. Therefore, the patients are well prepared for the surgery. Laboratory tests and various imaging tests need to be performed to see the extent of the area of thyroid gland involved. In patients suffering from the overactive thyroid gland, the production of hormone is made normal and the symptoms are decreased with the help of medications. Patients suffering from thyroid cancer may be advised to have prior radiotherapy treatment to shrink the tumor size.
As with all surgery requiring general anesthesia, the drug history of patient is checked and it is ensured that the patient is empty stomach for a few hours or a night before the surgery. The patient would be advised to take which medicines or not.
Thyroidectomy is usually performed in general anesthesia. It means that the patient will remain unconscious throughout the procedure. The vitals of the patient like blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation are continuously monitored so that they remain at safe levels during the whole procedure.
After the patient becomes unconscious, the surgeon performs the surgery. Depending upon the abnormality and the situation of the patients there are several approaches to the surgery as
After a successful surgery few people may experience side effects like pain in the area of neck and hoarseness in the voice which are often temporary. Pain can be relieved by medications for few days. In some patients, tubes may be inserted in the neck to drain the secretion which is removed later. The patient can resume drinking and eating after the surgery. Patient may stay overnight at the hospital or may go home the same day. The patient would be explained to take care of him or her
The results will depend upon the patient’s diagnosis and the extent to which the surgery is done. For the patients who had undergone partial thyroidectomy don’t require thyroid hormone supplementation as the rest of the part of thyroid gland takes over the function. Patients having complete thyroidectomy need to take lifelong medications of thyroxine hormone. These are oral tablets need to be taken daily and patients would feel as comfortable as the people with normal thyroid glands. Routine follow up in these patients is done.
This post was last modified on December 21, 2020 10:56 am
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