Sutureless Thyroidectomy Using Electrosurgical Devices

Abstract

Background:The thyroid gland being an extremely vascularized organ in nature, the surgical manipulations can lead to serious complications in terms of intraoperative bleeding to further serious complications like recurrent laryngeal nerve injury. The advancement in developing vessel sealing devices is ideally suitable for the extensive vascular network of the thyroid.Objective: This study aimed to compare the various perioperative and postoperative complications in sutureless and conventional thyroidectomy procedures. Materials and methods: This was a hospital-based cohort study comparing two groups, conventional and sutureless thyroidectomy performed in the Department of General and Minimal Invasive Surgery at Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, within a time period of 3 years. The patients were followed for outcome variables. The studied variables were type of surgery, age, gender, postoperative calcium levels, time for surgery, intraoperative bleeding, hospital stay, hematoma formation, neurovascular deficit, or any other. Results: The mean age in years was 34 years for group S and 36 years for group C with female preponderance. There was a significant difference with regard to operative time, intraoperative blood loss, and hospital stay (p < 0.001). Harmonic Scalpel shortens the operative time. Hospital stay was shorter in group S compared with group C. Conclusion: Sutureless thyroidectomy using electrosurgical devices tends to be more effective and safe in terms of blood loss, operative time, and hospital stay than conventional thyroidectomy using suture ligation.