G. V. Ramana Reddy, S. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, P. Anurag Reddy, Y. Harshavardhan, B. Ravikiran
BACKGROUND:The main complications of thyroid surgery include recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, hypocalcaemia, surgical site infection,haematoma and seroma formation. Post-operative seroma is a common complication. We wanted to study the effectiveness of negative suction drain in preventing seroma formation after thyroid surgery.
METHODS:The present study was a randomized study. Patients who were subjected to either total thyroidectomy or subtotal or hemithyroidectomy in SVS Medical College Hospital, Mahbubnagar during the study period of June 2016 to August 2018 were included. Cases were randomly allocated to either the no drainage (group 1) or the drainage (group 2) group. During the study period, 120 willing patients were included in the study. The volume of fluid collection in the operative bed, postoperative pain, complications, and length of hospital stay, were then recorded. Various presentations, complications and treatments were noted and finally followed up for minimum of 3 months.
RESULTS: Group 1 and group 2 were matched according to age, gender, thyroid volume, type of procedure performed, and histopathological diagnosis. After assessment by USG, no significant difference was found between the groups in the fluid collection of the thyroid bed, but the length of hospital stay was significantly reduced in group 1. Post-operative pain and discomfort was observed more in group 2 compared to group 1.
CONCLUSIONS:This study concludes that there is no significant advantage of suction drain after thyroid surgery routinely. However, suctiondrain can be considered in cases of large goitres where dead space is extensive and where difficult dissection with significantoozing of blood intra-operatively was encountered.
