The incidence of post-thyroidectomy hypocalcemia in Al-Diwaniyah Teaching Hospital, Iraq

Abstract

Hypocalcemia, which is mainly transitory, is one of the high frequent complications after complete resection of the thyroid gland. Thus, the aim of the present study is to determine related factors with an increased risk of hypocalcemia due to hypoparathyroidism in related to etiology and surgical procedure. A total of 100 total thyroidectomies were studied for the incidence of hypocalcemia whether transitory or permanent and discuss the relation with surgical procedures. The results of this study revealed that post-operative hypocalcemia was noticed in 35 cases (35%), asymptomatic one was shown in 16 cases (45.7%) while symptomatic one was shown in 19 cases (54.3%). Hypocalcemia in the postoperative period was less in patients with complete surgery after subtotal thyroidectomy than in those that with total thyroidectomy in a single operation. Patients are suffering from Graves-disease shows a high incidence of hypocalcemia in 15% of the cases. The return function of parathyroid glands was 4.5 months in mean, with 70% of the patients showing recovery within 6 months. Hypocalcemia of transient type after total thyroidectomy is a frequent complication, but the permanent one is rare. Patients with Graves-disease have a more risk to develop postoperative hypocalcemia, and it should have specific follow up. Measurement of calcium at postoperative period has little benefit for early detection of patients predisposing for hypocalcemia.