The incidence of postoperative recurrence of nontoxic goitre was evaluated in 175 patients. The average observation period was 8.8 years. Levothyroxine (Eltroxin) had been taken by 104 of these patients as long-term prophylaxis against goitre recurrence. Ten (9.5%) of the 104 had recurrence. The other 71 patients received no or only brief thyroxine medication postoperatively. In this group there were eight recurrences (11.3%). The difference was not significant, nor did the two groups differ significantly in regard to sex and age distribution, pathologic anatomy and observation time. Routine long-term administration of thyroxine after thyroid resection is not justified from the results of this study.
Following thyroid resection for nontoxic goitre, 29 euthyroid patients were randomly allocated to no medication or to 0.2 mg levothyroxine daily (17 and 12 patients). The two groups were comparable in age, sex, extent of surgery and thyroid pathology. The patients were free from other endocrine disorders and had no other medication. Serum TSH, T4 and T3 were measured and T3‐resin test performed preoperatively and 14 days and 3, 6, 12 and 18 months postoperatively. All values were within normal range. Only at the 3‐month follow‐up could statistically significant intergroup differences be observed, with T4 higher in the thyroxine‐treated and TSH higher in the untreated group, but the outset values were thereafter regained. The T3 values in both groups were slightly reduced immediately after the operation. There was no recurrence of goitre in the 18‐month observation period, and none of the findings suggested that routine thyroxine treatment is of value after resection of nontoxic goitre “in Denmark”.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.