Aim Thyroidectomy is commonly performed for benign and malignant diseases of the thyroid gland. We report our results of performing hemithyroidectomy under local anaesthesia (LA) or general anaesthesia (GA) in a local tertiary hospital. Patients and Methods Patients’ demographic data, operative time, length of hospital stay and complications were recorded. Multiple regression analyses were used to assess the risk‐adjusted endpoints. The mean follow up was 12.6 months. Results From January 2010 to December 2014, 279 patients underwent hemithyroidectomy, of which 229 (82 per cent) were under GA. The mean age was 50.0 ± 14.6 years, and 238 (85 per cent) patients were female. In the univariate analysis, GA was associated with a longer operative time (99.3 vs 75.4 min, P = 0.011) and a longer hospital day (2.3 vs 1.4 days, P < 0.001). After adjusting for other covariates with multiple regression analyses, GA was still associated with a longer operative time by 16.1 min (P = 0.006) and a longer hospital stay by 1.15 days (P < 0.001). It had a higher complication rate (odds ratio = 3.26, P = 0.181), albeit not statistically significant. Conclusions Hemithyroidectomy under LA is associated with a shorter operative time and hospital stay, and is a safe and viable alternative to GA in selected patients.

The venous admixture was measured before, during, and after deflation of one lung during anaesthesia for thoracotomy in 10 subjects ventilated with 50% oxygen. The mean oxygen saturation fell from 99% before deflation of the lung to 89% after 30 minutes’ atelectasis. The pH and carbon dioxide tension did not change significantly. The shunt was 38% of cardiac output five minutes after and 41% 30 minutes after deflation. The reciprocal of the arterial venous oxygen content difference correlated positively with the shunt, suggesting that increased venous admixture is accompanied by increased cardiac output.

Aim The incidence of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) in Asians remains low but shows a steady rising trend. There is a lack of reporting of the long‐term outcome in this population. This study aims to evaluate the 5‐year overall survival and its associated prognostic factors among patients with head and neck cSCC. Patients and Methods Patients with head and neck cSCC were identified in a regional hospital over 20 years. The 5‐year overall survival was estimated with the Kaplan–Meier curve and its prognostic risk factors were analysed using Cox proportional hazard regression. Results A total of 73 patients were identified. The median age was 84. The 5‐year overall survival rate was 40.3%. A higher grade of differentiation (hazard ratio 3.732, 95% confidence interval 1.161–11.991, P = .027) was a significant prognostic factor on both univariate and multivariate analyses. Conclusion In this Asian cSCC survival series specific to the head and neck region, which mostly included octogenarians, the 5‐year overall‐survival was low and a poor grade of differentiation was associated with a worse survival. Further studies on the Asian population is warranted.