Abstract

DEDIVITIS, Rogério Aparecido; PFUETZENREITER JR, Elio Gilberto; NARDI, Carlos Eduardo Molinari  and  BARBARA, Emmanuel Casotti Duque de. Prospective study of clinical and laboratorial hypocalcemia after thyroid surgery. Braz. j. otorhinolaryngol. (Impr.) [online]. 2010, vol.76, n.1, pp. 71-77. ISSN 1808-8694.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1808-86942010000100012.

Hypocalcemia can be detected clinically and through lab tests after thyroidectomy. AIM: To analyze the incidence and risk factors of clinical and laboratorial hypocalcemia after thyroid surgery. METHODS: Prospective study of 91 patients undergoing thyroidectomy. Demographics, intraoperative, and pathological aspects were correlated to our hypocalcemia findings. RESULTS: Age higher than 50 (p = 0.022) and complete thyroidectomy (p < 0.001) were considered risk factors for hypoparathyroidism. Complete thyroidectomy was considered a risk factor for the 48-hour laboratorial hypoparathyroidism (p = 0.004). There was no risk factor associated with the one-month laboratorial hypoparathyroidism. There was significance between the 48-hour and the one-month laboratorial hypoparathyroidism. CONCLUSIONS: Thyroidectomy extension is a risk factor for both the clinical and laboratorial hypoparathyroidism, whereas age is a risk factor for clinical hypoparathyroidism. The detection of 48-hour laboratorial hypoparathyroidism is a predisposing factor for the one-month laboratorial hypoparathyroidism. However, most of the cases were temporary.

Keywords : postoperative complications; thyroid diseases; parathyroid glands; hypocalcemia; thyroidectomy.