Drainage after thyroid surgery: a prospective randomized study

Between November, 1996 and May, 1997 a series of 100 consecutive unselected patients undergoing all types of thyroid surgery--including even those inducing large dead space e.g. substernal goitre and carcinoma thyroid with recurrent nerve dissection--were randomly allotted to either receive drainage (n = 43) or not (n = 57). Patients with cervical dissection for lymph node metastasis were not included. Severe intra-operative haemorrhage was not a reason for exclusion. No complications such as haematoma or seroma were found in the undrained group whereas only minor complications such as haematoma (n = 4) were noted in the drained group. Whatever the group, none of the patients required re-exploration. The difference in overall hospital stay (1.72 days in the group of undrained patients versus 2.09 days in the drained group) was not statistically significant.