Changing trends in surgery for Graves’ disease: a cohort comparison of those having surgery intended to preserve thyroid function with those having ablative surgery

Table 2 Postoperative complications and hospital stay

	Intention to preserve (n = 78)	Intention to ablate (n = 71)
	No. (%)	No. (%)	P value*
Acute airway obstruction**	0 (0.0)	1 (1.4)	0.477
Subcutaneous haematoma	1 (1.3)	1 (1.4)	1.000
Transient RLN palsy †	1 (1.3)	4 (5.6)	0.192
Permanent RLN palsy†	1 (1.3)	1 (1.9)	1.000
Permanent hypocalcaemia††	1 (1.3)	4 (5.6)	0.192
Wound infection	4 (5.1)	2 (2.8)	0.683
Wound seroma	0 (0.0)	1 (1.4)	0.477
Total hospital stay, mean (SD) (median), days	3.30 (1.43) (3.0)	2.18 (1.11) (2.0)	0.003‡
Recovery time, mean (SD) (median), days	2.83 (1.44) (2.0)	1.87 (1.43) (1.0)	0.005‡

Values in parentheses are percentages unless specified. RLN, recurrent laryngeal nerve.
* Fisher’s exact test unless specified.
** Airway obstruction due to deep tension haematoma.
† Laryngoscopy was not routine until 2000 and only patients with voice change underwent laryngoscopy before this date.
†† Relative risk (95% CI) comparing intention to ablate with intention to preserve = 4.39 (0.50–38.9).
‡Mann–Whitney U test.

ISSN: 1916-0216