Incidence of Hypocalcemia Post Thyroidectomy: Results from Dubai Hospital, Dubai, UAE

Aliya Ishaq^1*, Muhammad Jamshaid Husain Khan², Sameera Naureen³, Yasir Amin Abdellatif³, Nisha Kunal Mandhane¹, Ferial Abbass¹, Esaaf Hasan Ghazi⁴, Arfan Al Awa⁴, Husni Sidique Shalak⁵, Maryum Ali Essa¹, Zaid Abdulaziz^4
1Specialist General Surgeon, Dubai Hospital, UAE
²Specialist Internal Medicine, Dubai Hospital, UAE
³Senior Specialist General Surgery, Dubai Hospital, UAE
⁴Consultant Breast and General Surgeon, Dubai Hospital UAE
⁵Consultant General Surgeon, Dubai Hospital, UAE

Correspondence to: Aliya Ishaq, Specialist General Surgeon, Dubai Hospital, Dubai, UAE
Received date: August 20, 2021; Accepted date: September 2, 2021; Published Date: September 10, 2021
Citation: Ishaq I. (2021) Incidence of Hypocalcemia Post Thyroidectomy: Results from Dubai Hospital, Dubai, UAE. J Clin Biomed Invest 1(2): 1-5. doi: 10.52916/jcbi21408
Copyright: ©2021 Ishaq I. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Introduction and Background: Thyroidectomy is one of the common endocrine surgery performed. Hypocalcemia is one of the most common complication post thyroidectomy. Incidence varies between 6.4-20.5% for transient and 1.5 to 2.69 for permanent hypocalcemia. Meticulous surgical technique is the key for preservation of blood supply to parathyroid gland and hence decreasing the incidence of post op hypocalcemia. Once identified should be treated with multidisciplinary approach with proper follow up.
Objective: To determine the incidence of transient and perminant hypocalcemia in patients undergoing thyroidectomy in our institute for various reasons.
Methods: Records of 120 patients who underwent thyroidectomy from Jan 2017 till July 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Calcium levels were checked at 6 hours post operatively to find the incidence of transient hypocalcemia and at 6-8 months interval to calculate for permanent hypocalcemia. All patients were followed till 2 years post operatively and treatment started for those with hypocalcemia and repeated calcium levels were checked and treatment was tapered and gradually stopped once normal serum calcium levels reached normal.
Results: The incidence of transient hypocalcemia in our study is 4.1 % while only 0.8 % patients had permanent hypocalcemia .
Conclusion: Hypocalcemia being one of the most common complication of thyroidectomy, the incidence can be reduced by paying attention to meticulous surgical technique. It is seen mostly in patients undergoing total thyroidectomy and advanced and prolonged surgery for malignancy.

Keywords:

Hypocalcemia, Thyroidectomy, Thyroid disease, Parathyroid