Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol (2009) 266:1945–1952 DOI 10.1007/s00405-009-0949-0 123 HEAD AND NECK Post-thyroidectomy hemorrhage: a national study of patients treated at the Danish departments of ENT Head and Neck Surgery Christian Godballe · Anders Rørbæk Madsen · Henrik Baymler Pedersen · Christian Hjort Sørensen · Ulrik Pedersen · Thomas Frisch · Jens Helweg-Larsen · Lisa Barfoed · Peter Illum · Jonas Elmose Mønsted · Birgit Becker · Troels Nielsen Received: 21 December 2008 / Accepted: 2 March 2009 / Published online: 20 March 2009  Springer-Verlag 2009 Abstract As bleeding in the neck region is a potentially life-threatening complication, we found it imperative to concretize the frequency and to identify possible reasons for this complication. A national database of all thyroid sur- gery performed inside the specialty of ENT Head and Neck Surgery (THYKIR) was established in January 2001. This nationwide cohort study represents 5,490 patients included until December 2007. Overall hemorrhage frequency was 4.2% with a wide variation among departments. Multiple regression analysis identiWed age, male gender, malignant histology and extent of surgery as independent risk factors for hemorrhage. Increased hospital stay and infection rates were found in patients treated with drainage. The median time for onset of postoperative hemorrhage was 3 h (range C. Godballe (&) · A. R. Madsen Department of ENT Head and Neck Surgery, Odense University Hospital, 5000 Odense C, Denmark e-mail: godballe@dsa-net.dk; christian.godballe@ouh.regionsyddanmark.dk A. R. Madsen e-mail: arm@dadlnet.dk H. B. Pedersen Department of ENT Head and Neck Surgery, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark e-mail: hebp@rn.dk C. H. Sørensen Department of ENT Head and Neck Surgery, Gentofte Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark e-mail: chsor@geh.regionh.dk U. Pedersen Department of ENT Head and Neck Surgery, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark e-mail: ulrik@as.aaa.dk T. Frisch Department of ENT Head and Neck Surgery, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark e-mail: thomas.frisch@rh.regionh.dk J. Helweg-Larsen Department of ENT Head and Neck Surgery, Vejle Hospital, Vejle, Denmark e-mail: jens.peter.helweg-larsen@slb.regionsyddanmark.dk L. Barfoed Department of ENT Head and Neck Surgery, Slagelse Hospital, Slagelse, Denmark e-mail: lira@regionsjaelland.dk P. Illum Department of ENT Head and Neck Surgery, Viborg Hospital, Viborg, Denmark e-mail: peter.illum@viborg.rm.dk J. E. Mønsted Department of ENT Head and Neck Surgery, Næstved Hospital, Naestved, Denmark e-mail: jonas.moensted@dalnet.dk B. Becker Department of ENT Head and Neck Surgery, Køge Hospital, Koge, Denmark e-mail: bcb@hamlet.dk T. Nielsen Department of ENT Head and Neck Surgery, Hillerød Hospital, Hillerød, Denmark e-mail: trni@noh.regionh.dk