Reoperation Rates After Initial Thyroid Lobectomy for Patients with Thyroid Cancer: A National Cohort Study

Introduction: The 2015 American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines recommended thyroid lobectomy (TL) as an alternative to total thyroidectomy (TT) for the surgical treatment of low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer. Increasing use of TL has since been reported despite concerns for an increased risk of disease recurrence and need for reoperation. This study sought to compare reoperation rates among patients who underwent initial TL or TT for malignancy, characterize trends at centers based on operative volume, and examine factors associated with reoperation. Methods: We queried the Vizient Clinical Data Base for TL and TT performed preguideline change (pre-GC = 2013-2015) and postguideline change (post-GC = 2016-2021). Reoperations included reoperative thyroid surgery (RTS) and neck dissection (ND); timing was defined as early (≤180 days), thought to indicate inadequacy of initial operative choice, or late (>180 days), suggesting potential disease recurrence. Results: Of 65,627 patients, 31.8% underwent initial TL and 68.2% underwent initial TT; TL increased from 21.4% of total cases pre-GC to 37.0% post-GC (p < 0.001). Among TL patients, early RTS declined from 33.9% to 14.2% and ND declined from 0.8% to 0.4% (p < 0.001). Among TT patients, early RTS remained 0.2%, while ND increased from 0.4% to 0.7% (p < 0.001). TL-associated late RTS declined from 2.0% to 1.7%, while ND increased from 0.6% to 0.8% (p = 0.17). In TT patients, both late RTS and ND increased, from 0.2% to 0.3% (p = 0.04) and 1.7% to 2.1% (p < 0.01), respectively. There was no difference in the late reoperation rate for TL compared with TT post-GC (+0.2%, p = 0.18). TL volume grew annually by 12.5% [8.9-16.2%] at high-volume centers (HVCs) and 8.3% [5.6-11.1%] at low-volume centers (LVCs). TL-associated reoperations at HVCs declined annually by 12.6% [5.6-19.0%] and 10.8% [2.7-18.1%] at LVCs. Uninsured status and more recent initial operation were associated with an increased risk of late reoperation (HR = 1.84 [1.06-3.20] and HR = 1.30 [1.24-1.36], respectively). The type of index operation performed, however, was not predictive of late reoperation. Conclusions: The rate of early reoperations declined for TL after the 2015 ATA guideline release, but late reoperations remained unchanged despite a significant shift in practice patterns towards initial lobectomy. Patients appear to be receiving less aggressive, guideline-concordant care without a significant increase in the late reoperation rate for TL compared with TT.