Mortality, morbidity and long-term results in surgically treated hyperthyroid patients. Review of 597 cases

An analysis is presented of 597 cases of Graves' disease or toxic multinodular goitre surgically treated in 1956-1980. The mortality rate was only 0.2%. The incidence of postoperative haemorrhage was 0.2%, damage to the recurrent laryngeal nerve 3.2%, postoperative thyrotoxic crisis 1.7%, acute hypoparathyroidism 2.2% and acute postoperative respiratory failure due to tracheomalacia 0.5%. Early complications were significantly more common among the patients with Grave's disease than in the multinodular goitre group. Thyroid function was re-evaluated in 116 patients after a mean postoperative interval of 9 years. Hyperthyroidism had recurred in ten of them and six were hypothyroid (8.6 and 5.2%). The evolution of the thyroid functional status was not significantly related to the pathology or to the sex or age of the patients.