 |
|
To Drain or Not to Drain in Thyroid SurgeryA Controlled Clinical Study
Olle Wihlborg, MD;
Lars Bergljung, MD, PhD;
Hans Mårtensson, MD, PhD
Arch Surg. 1988;123(1):40-41.
Abstract
| |
• Drainage after thyroid surgery is widely used to prevent postoperative complications by evacuation of blood and fluids. However, to our knowledge no study has shown the benefit of drainage. Therefore, we performed a prospective, randomized study on the rate of complications after drainage or no drainage in thyroid surgery. One hundred fifty patients were allocated to drainage or no drainage. No difference was seen between the two groups according to the experience of the surgeon, type of operation, diagnosis, weight of thyroid specimens, operation time, and hospital stay. All complications were recorded and resulted in two patients receiving reoperation because of bleeding, two permanent laryngeal nerve palsies, one case of permanent hypocalcemia, ten minor hematomas, one wound infection, and one lymphatic leakage. No difference was seen between the groups. This study does not support prophylactic routine drainage after uncomplicated thyroid surgery.
(Arch Surg 1988;123:40-41)
Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Surgery, Ljungby Hospital (Dr Wihlborg), Växjö Hospital (Dr Bergljung), and Helsingborg Hospital (Dr Mårtensson), Helsingborg, Sweden.
Footnotes
Accepted for publication Dec 2, 1986.
Reprint requests to Department of Surgery, Helsingborg Hospital, S-251 87 Helsingborg, Sweden (Dr Mårtensson).
 CiteULike  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati  Twitter
What's this?
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES
Drains in Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery: Are They Necessary?
Wax et al.
Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1995;121:981-983.
ABSTRACT
|
