INCIDENCES OF HYPOTHYROIDISM IN HEMITHYROIDECTOMY PATIENTS: A PROSPECTIVE STUDY

Background: Routine thyroid function tests obtained as early as one month after surgery may identify the patient with subclinical as well as clinical or overt hypothyroidism. The early recognition of this postoperative complication prevents symptoms of hypothyroidism or recurrent thyroid discase. Aim: To access the incidences of hypothyroidism in patients undergoing hemithyroidectomy surgery at our tertiary care centre. Methods: This is a prospective study conducted with total of 100 patients underwent hemithyroidectomy at Department of General Surgery. Thyroid function tests viz. free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) were performed in all cases included in the study at 4, weeks, 12 weeks, 18 weeks and 24 weeks following hemithyroidectomy. Results: The mean age of study subjects was found to be 43.50 years with female predominance as compared to male. Majority of the study subjects i.e., 26% were diagnosed with colloid goiter followed by benign thyroid lesion (22%), malignancy thyroid (13%), and nodular colloid goiter (12%). Atotal of 29 subjects out of 100 underwent hemithyroidectomy and among them 16% and 13% underwent right hemithyroidectomy and left hemithyroidectomy respectively. Majority of the study subjects i.e., 20.68% of study subjects who underwent hemithyroidectomy procedure (n=29) developed subclinical hypothyroidism followed by 10.34% developed overt hypothyroidism. Conclusion: At our tertiary care centre about one third of the study subjects underwent hemithyroidectomy procedure developed hypothyroidism (31.03%) this includes subclinical hypothyroidism (20.68%) and overt hypothyroidism (10.34%).