Arjama Roy, Amity University Kolkata
Obesity is a serious medical condition involving an excessive accumulation of body fat which increases the risk of health disorders. The prevalence of obesity is growing at an alarming rate in western countries. It is found that patients with high BMI (< 30) are undergoing surgical procedures, multiple times.
In the recent study, among obese patients, it was evaluated whether thyroidectomy can be considered safe for them or not. It was a retrospective cohort study in which patients who have conventionally undergone total thyroidectomy between 2014 and 2018 were selected. The enrolled patient’s BMI was stratified and was divided into two groups- Group A with BMI <30 kg/m2 and Group B with BMI >=30 kg/m2. A total of 813 patients were studied and categorized. 678 patients were included in Group A and 135 in Group B.
The functional integrity of the parathyroid and laryngeal nerves was facilitated by doing surgery. Postoperative fibro-laryngoscopy was also done to check vocal cord mobility. Multivariate analyses were done to assess whether the BMI value had an important role in the development of postoperative complications.
At univariate analysis, the comparison between the 2 groups, showed statistically significant results in terms of operative time and thyroid weight. These features were meaningfully higher in patients belonging to Group B than in Group A. Multivariate analyses exhibited that the event of cervical hematoma was statistically higher in patients with higher BMI value. Patients with a high BMI had a lower risk of cervical hematoma.
In conclusion, thyroidectomy isn’t related to an increase in postoperative complications in obese patients. It can be performed safely in obese individuals.
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SOURCE: Canu, G.L., Medas, F., Cappellacci, F. et al. Can thyroidectomy be considered safe in obese patients? A retrospective cohort studies. BMC Surg20, 275 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12893-020-00939-w
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