Article
Thyroid Surgery by the ENT-Specialist?
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Published: | August 10, 2015 |
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Introduction: Although the thyroid gland is located in the neck it is not a matter of fact that it is a clinical issue for the otorhinolaryngologist in Germany. Probably due to historic reasons general surgeons usually perform operations on the thyroid. As at our department this kind of treatment is an established procedure we prospectively evaluated our thyroid cases in order to present our results.
Material and Methods: The prospective study at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Bad Hersfeld started in the year of 2014. So far 150 patients were enrolled with an average age of 54.7 years (16–89). The sex ratio showed a significant preponderance of the female patients with 112 and 38 males. In 99 case we didn’t insert a Redon-drainage. The mean operation time was 133 minutes. The preoperative concentration of calcium was 2.43 mg/ml with a postoperative decrease to 2.20 mg/ml. In cases of malignancies revealed in histology a second procedure with complete thyroidectomy and neck dissection took place immediately afterwards.
Conclusions: Many symptoms of disorders of the thyroid become manifest in a genuine region of our speciality. Therefore we cannot detect any convincing reason why head and neck surgeons should not perform thyroidectomies. Skills like the specific clinical examination, the preoperative diagnostic work flow including sonography, the precise surgical management of soft tissue and neural structures and the postoperative care are typical features of our discipline. However, besides the surgeon’s expertise a close collaboration with the colleagues of nuclear medicine and the general practitioner respectively the endocrinologist is mandatory in order to achieve a high quality of treatment.