[The effectiveness ot thyroid-hormone therapy following goiter-resection]

The effectiveness of a postoperative thyroid-hormone therapy in preventing a goiter-recidiv was investigated two years after goiter-resection. Of 3381 patients with goiter, who were operated on in the years 1964 to 1973 in the Surgical Department of the Krankenhaus Nordwest in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, 129 patients who were operated on in the first six months of 1969, were questioned and examined in a follow-up study. A rezidiv-goiter was found in 4, 6 p.c. of patients. If only palpable recidiv-goiters are taken into consideration 2, 3 p.c.), patients without postoperative thyroid-hormone therapy developed a recidiv goiter twice as often as patients with thyroid-hormone therapy.