Drains after thyroid surgery

Thyroidectomy is one of the most common procedures and the most feared complication is the hematoma that obstructs the airway, which leads to the use of drains, although the evidence of the benefits of its use is limited.

To analyze the frequency of the use of drains, the type of surgery and hospital stay in patients undergoing thyroid surgery.

We included patients with diverse thyroid diseases with and without drains. The information was gathered retrospectively, including the patient characteristics, the type of surgery and the histopathology result.

Out of the 44 patients, only 9% used drainage and the most frequent diagnosis was papillary thyroid cancer. The most frequent procedure was right hemithyroidectomy; all patients with drainage had larger lesions, but no statistical difference was found between the groups (p = 0.174). Drains have been used for multiple reasons, although evidence shows it is unnecessary. In this study we observed that the patients with longer hospital stay were the cases of lesions that needed complex procedures, which can contribute to the use of drains.

The use of drains is controversial; it depends on the surgical education of the surgeon. In this study drains were used for procedures with bigger lesions, although there was no difference with patients with similar lesions without drains. The best way of avoiding the use of drains is to be careful and pay attention to details during surgery.