Factors related to nerve injury and hypocalcemia in thyroid gland surgery

To identify potential risk factors related to complications after thyroidec tomy, a study was designed that included 675 patients. Recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) paralysis, hypocalcemia, serohematoma, wound infection, and pos toperative hemorrhage were evaluated, The rate of paralysis of the RLN was calculated on nerves at risk for hypocalcemia (n = 890) in patients undergo ing bilateral procedures or unilateral procedures if they had previously un dergone a contralateral operation (n = 321), Multivariate analysis was used to identify the relationships between the variables included in the study. All statistical tests received the same level of significance of 0,05. Per manent hypocalcemia occurred in 2.2% of the patients, whereas unilateral pa ralysis of the RLN developed In 0,9%, Mortality was 0.1% in this series, Th e RLN paralysis had a significant relationship with preoperative diagnosis of malignancy (P < 0,03), Likewise, hypocalcemia was related to sex and sur gical procedure (P < 0.03). Serohematoma was linked with age (p < 0.001), a nd hemorrhage was associated with previous radiation of the neck (P < 0,03) .