Outcome Analysis of Total Thyroidectomy: Conventional Suture Ligation Technique vs Sutureless Technique

Total thyroidectomy is a common surgical procedure in endocrine surgery. However, it carries potential complications such as damage to the recurrent laryngeal nerve, permanent hypoparathyroidism, and bleeding.  Methods: A prospective study was conducted at the Professorial Surgical Unit, Jaffna Teaching Hospital, involving consecutive patients who underwent total thyroidectomy. Patients with certain conditions were excluded from the study. The data collected were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25 (Released 2017; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States).

This study included 59 patients who had total thyroidectomy from January 2018 to January 2021 at the Professorial Surgical Unit, Jaffna Teaching Hospital. Of these, 45 underwent conventional suture ligation (CSL), and 17 had a sutureless (SL) technique. Mean ages were 44±12.47 years (range: 23 to 68) for CSL and 47.63±13.37 years (range: 27 to 73) for SL. Operative time was 2.16 ± 0.32 hours for CSL and 1.56 ± 0.49 hours for SL. Intraoperative and postoperative bleeding occurred in 2.38% of CSL cases but not in SL. Postoperative hypocalcemia was 7.14% for CSL and 5.88% for SL. Postoperative stays averaged 3.83 ± 1.56 days for CSL and 3.41 ± 1.62 days for SL.

The study found that the operative time differed significantly between the suture and SL techniques. However, there was no statistically significant difference in postoperative drainage volume or postoperative complications.

The SL technique was shown to be superior to the conventional suture ligation technique for total thyroidectomy. It resulted in shorter operative time, reduced intraoperative bleeding, lower incidence of postoperative drainage, fewer postoperative voice changes, and shorter hospital stays. Therefore, the SL technique was deemed safe, efficient, and effective for total thyroidectomy compared to the conventional suture ligation technique.