Daycare thyroidectomy surgery – Our experience

BackgroundOutpatient surgery benefits patients and surgeons alike, as it is convenient, safe and cost-effective. We sought to assess the safety and feasibility of daycare thyroid surgery in a stand-alone Daycare Surgery Center in South India.AimOur aim is to identify the difficulties, to formulate a protocol for daycare thyroidectomies and also to discuss its feasibility.Study designCase series.MethodsWe performed a prospective study of 71 patients who underwent total or hemithyroidectomy with or without neck dissection between January 2012 and March 2014 at Apollo Daycare Surgery Center, Chennai.ResultsSeventy-one patients met our inclusion criteria. Most patients were women (77%) and men were 23%. Only 1 patient developed haematoma, 1 patient developed tetany, and there was no incidence of stridor or recurrent laryngeal nerve injury.ConclusionDaycare thyroidectomies are safe and associated with low complication rate provided a strict inclusion and exclusion criteria is followed along with meticulous surgery.