DOI: 10.21276/aimdr.2018.4.2.EN4 Original Article ISSN (O):2395-2822; ISSN (P):2395-2814 Annals of International Medical and Dental Research, Vol (4), Issue (2) Page 13 Section: Ear, Nose & Throat Complications of Thyroid Surgery: Our Experience. Vinti Jain 1 , Akshay Jain 2 , Probal Chatterji 3 1 Junior Resident, Department of ENT&HNS, TMMC&RC, Moradabad. 2 Assistant Professor, Department of ENT &HNS, TMMC&RC, Moradabad. 3 Professor & Head, Department of ENT &HNS, TMMC&RC, Moradabad. Received: February 2018 Accepted: February 2018 Copyright: © the author(s), publisher. Annals of International Medical and Dental Research (AIMDR) is an Official Publication of “Society for Health Care & Research Development”. It is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non- commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the complications of thyroid surgery and their management. Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 50 patients at Teerthankar Mahaveer Medical College and Research Centre Teerthankar Mahaveer University, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh over a period of 12 months. Patients undergoing thyroid surgery in our department were included in this study after taking proper written informed consent. Complete history was taken and thorough ENT examination was performed. Clinical and laboratory data from the study was recorded as per the pro forma. Results: Among the patients undergoing surgery, Isthmusectomy was performed in 3 (6.0%) patients, Left hemithyroidectomy in 5 (10.0%) patients, Right hemithyroidectomy in 28 (56.0%), Subtotal thyroidectomy in 6 (12.0%) patients, Near total thyroidectomy in 3 (6.0%) patients and Total thyroidectomy in 5 (10.0%) patients. The most common complication that occurred was hypocalcemia(16%). Other complications observed were permanent hypoparathyroidism (6%), permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy (4%), superior laryngeal nerve palsy (2%), post-operative haemorrhage (2%), seroma (8%), hypertrophic scar (8%), keloid (2%), wound infection (6%). Conclusion: The most common complications generally observed are hypoparathyroidism and recurrent laryngeal nerve injuries. Keywords: Hemithyroidectomy, subtotal thyroidectomy, subtotal thyroidectomy, total thyroidectomy, hypocalcemia, hypoparathyroidism, recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy. INTRODUCTION The thyroid is a gland of internal secretion and a unique site of several diseases which may be managed medically or surgically or by a combination of both. The association of high prevalence of thyroid diseases with publications from diverse regions and different schools of surgery often results in heterogeneous information that helps feed the controversy about their best mode of management. [1-5] Thyroid nodules are very frequent. Many patients present with a palpable enlargement of the thyroid gland and surgery is commonly performed on these patients. Numerous complications may arise following the surgical removal of the thyroid gland. These problems often result from surgical technique, aberrant anatomy, infections etc. Although the incidence of these complications is low, some problems are seen more frequently than others. [6] Thyroid surgery was rarely performed until the late nineteenth century. Total thyroidectomies were only performed occasionally for indications other than cancer until the last quarter of the twentieth Name & Address of Corresponding Author Dr. Akshay Jain Assistant Professor, Department of ENT &HNS, TMMC&RC, Moradabad. century. [2] The use of total thyroidectomy remains controversial for small differentiated thyroid carcinomas, but even more controversial is its use to treat benign diseases. [7] Most surgeons avoid the procedure owing to the possible complications such as permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy and permanent hypoparathyroidism; subtotal thyroidectomy has been the preferred operation for benign thyroid diseases. [7] However, the indication of total thyroidectomy (TT) for certain benign diseases is a trend that is gaining acceptance in the last two decades. Although the extent of resection for benign diseases remains controversial, an increasing number of total thyroidectomies are currently being performed in specialist endocrine surgery units and the indications for this procedure include Graves disease and multinodular goitre. [7] The disadvantages of subtotal thyroidectomy to treat multinodular goitre are that the procedure does not reduce the risk of persisting symptoms and has a high recurrence rate (30%–50%) owing to the gland remnants, even under hormonal suppression treatment with L-thyroxine. [7] Disease recurrence usually requires a repeat surgery which greatly increases the risk (up to 20 times) of damage to the parathyroid glands and laryngeal nerves. TT should be considered in cases of suspected malignant nodules, multinodular nontoxic goiter