[Treatment of goiter in adolescents in surgical practice--personal observations]

Fifty one patients 12-19 years old were operated on because of different thyroid diseases (1.7% of total amount 3029 patients after surgical treatment). There was no post-operative complication (except of 2 cases of temporary vocal cord paresis). Late results of surgical treatment in adolescents were not significantly different then in other groups. Presence of the symptoms of clinical or subclinical hypothyreosis or rarely recurrence of thyrotoxicosis in patients with toxic nodular goitre after surgical treatment, however, makes the treatment worst, particularly important in this age group. Suppression therapy of thyroid hormones was administrated in all patients with simple nodular goitre and with thyroid cancer. All patients were followed up in our outpatient clinic. During the follow-up from 6 months to 10 years no recurrence of goitre or thyroid cancer was observed.