What Happens After Removing One Side of the Thyroid?

Update Date: 2024-05-28 Source: Network

The thyroid gland is a very important endocrine organ in the human body. When suffering from thyroid adenoma, huge adenoma, cysts, and other diseases, surgery is required to remove the thyroid gland. Some patients may need a complete resection, while others may only require a partial resection. After the resection of one side of the thyroid gland, postoperative complications such as difficulty breathing and asphyxia, thyroid crisis, hand and foot spasms, hoarseness, and other symptoms may occur.

What happens after resection of one side of the thyroid gland?

1. Postoperative difficulty breathing and asphyxia. This is the most critical complication after surgery, mostly occurring within 48 hours after surgery. Common causes include bleeding within the incision, formation of hematoma, compression of the trachea, tracheal collapse, laryngeal edema, and bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve injury.

2. Thyroid crisis. The cause is not yet certain, but it is often due to insufficient preoperative preparation and failure to control hyperthyroidism symptoms well. Thyroid crisis usually occurs within 12 to 36 hours after surgery, manifesting as high fever, rapid and weak pulse (over 120 beats per minute), irritability, and even coma, often accompanied by vomiting and watery diarrhea.

3. Hand and foot spasms. It is difficult to ensure that the parathyroid glands will not be "injured" during surgery. Contusion or compromised blood supply can cause hypothyroidism, and the blood calcium concentration may drop below 8mg%, or even to 4mg% to 6mg% in severe cases. This significantly increases the excitability of neuromuscular and can lead to hand and foot spasms. In severe cases, patients may experience persistent spasms of facial muscles, hands, and feet, occurring multiple times per day and lasting for 10 to 20 minutes or longer each time.

4. Hoarseness. This is mainly caused by direct damage to the recurrent laryngeal nerve during surgery, such as cutting, suturing, or clamping. In a few cases, it may be caused by hematoma compression or traction of scar tissue. The former usually manifests symptoms immediately during surgery or after waking up from general anesthesia, while the latter may appear several days after surgery. Hoarseness caused by cutting or suturing is permanent damage, while hoarseness caused by clamping, traction, or hematoma compression is usually temporary and can gradually recover within 3 to 6 months.