Outpatient thyroid surgery: Safety of an optimized protocol in more than 1,000 patients

Safety of outpatient thyroidectomy: Review of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program

“…Numerous previous smaller studies have demonstrated the safety of outpatient thyroidectomy . However, interpreting the current data on outpatient thyroidectomy needs to be done carefully based on the varying definition of outpatient status.…”

“…However, with increased awareness of the risks of hospitalization and emphasis on reduction of healthcare costs, there has been rising interest in performing thyroidectomy as an outpatient procedure . There have been numerous studies investigating what factors should be used to decide whether or not to admit patients overnight following thyroidectomy . Previous studies demonstrated a trend toward thyroidectomy being performed on an outpatient basis; however, there have not been any recent large‐scale investigations of the trends (since 2006) in this practice over time …”

Ambulatory thyroidectomy: an anesthesiologist’s perspective

“…Hypocalcemia is a common cause for hospitalization after thyroid surgery 25. In this analysis, we split results between temporary and permanent hypocalcemia.…”

“…Bononi et al, in their 2009 paper, assessed postoperative vomiting and found no relationship between emesis and cervical hematoma formation 22. Other anesthetic-specific techniques described included laryngeal nerve monitoring,1,25 deep tracheal extubation to prevent coughing on emergence,25 postoperative RLN function assessment either before waking in theater or using flexible endoscopy in the postsurgical unit 2…”

Early discharge after total thyroidectomy: a retrospective feasibility study

“…Risk factors for thyroid surgery complications include older age, male sex, thyroid malignancy, greater extent of operation, reoperative procedures, increasing nodule size, and surgeon inexperience (49,50). Recent improvements in hemostasis (including proliferation of advanced energy devices), widespread implementation of nerve monitoring, and routine postoperative calcium supplementation appear to have decreased these risks (51). The bleeding is usually evident within the first 24 hours after surgery and more frequent in the first 6 postoperative hours, being late hemorrhages rare (8,50,52).…”