ULTRASONOGRAPHIC SURVEILLANCE AFTER SURGERY FOR EUTHYROID GOITER IN PATIENTS TREATED OR NOT WITH THYROXINE

Objective: To assess the efficacy of postoperative treatment with 1-th yroxine in patients operated on for euthyroid goitre after precise def inition of extent of goitre disease preoperatively and postoperatively by ultrasound. Design: Retrospective study in a selected population. Setting: University hospital, Italy. Subjects: 53 patients operated on from 1984 to 1994 for euthyroid goitre. Interventions: 13 patients wh o had contralateral disease had lobectomy and contralateral enucleatio n and were treated postoperatively with suppressive doses of thyroxine . 22 patients underwent lobectomy with no medication. 18 patients unde rwent subtotal thyroidectomy followed by thyroxine in substitution dos es. All patients had regular clinical assessments and ultrasound exami nation for evidence of recurrent disease. Results: There were no signi ficant differences in the incidence of relapses between those who had lobectomy and those who had lobectomy plus enucleation (p > 0.05). Con clusions: We found no significant evidence that postoperative suppress ive treatment had any effect on recurrence of goitre. Subtotal thyroid ectomy gave the lowest recurrence rate (p = 0.14).