ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Thyroid Endocrinology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1538993
Risk Factors of Hypocalcemia After Total Thyroidectomy. A High Volume Center Experience
Provisionally accepted
- 1Anadolu Medical Center, Istanbul, Türkiye
- 2Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Çanakkale, Türkiye
- 3Istanbul Kartal Dr.Lutfi Kirdar Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye
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Introduction: Thyroidectomy is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures worldwide. The most common complication of total thyroidectomy (TT) in the early postoperative period is hypocalcemia. This study aims to determine the risk factors for postoperative hypocalcemia after TT and to reveal their clinical value. As a secondary outcome, we assessed the effects of iatrogenic parathyroidectomy, surgical experience, and parathyroid transplantations on prolonged than one month hypocalcemia and intravenous calcium infusion requirement after TT.We designed our study as a retrospective cohort study. Two hundred sixtythree patients that underwent total thyroidectomy in a single tertiary endocrine surgery unit were included. Patients are followed up for 6 months. The study performed between April 2014 and March 2015. Patients were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of hypocalcemia after surgery. All patients who performed total thyroidectomy without lymph node dissection in a single session were initially included in the study cohorts. Thereafter, patients with preoperatively confirmed hyperparathyroidism, hypoparathyroidism/hypocalcemia, had a history of thyroid operation, and postoperatively did not undergo regular follow-up (min. 12 months after surgery) were excluded from the latter analysis.In the multivariate analysis we conducted in our study, we found that female gender, preoperative hyperthyroidism, intraoperative parathyroid autotransplantation, and surgical experience were independent risk factors. Some of them are predictable parameters such as surgeon experience and preoperative hyperthyroidism.We consider that specific theoretical and practical studies on thyroid surgery will reduce postoperative hypocalcemia.
Keywords: Hypocalcemia, Thyroidectomy, Risk factors, Hypoparathryroidism, Endocrin Surgery
Received: 03 Dec 2024; Accepted: 22 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 İnanç, Çetin, Tosun and Küçük. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ömer Faruk İnanç, Anadolu Medical Center, Istanbul, Türkiye
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