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Quality of life is not influenced by the extent of surgery in patients with benign goiter

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Abstract

Introduction

The surgical approach to benign goiter is becoming increasingly radical due to the risk of recurrent goiter. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the impact of surgery on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with benign goiter.

Material and methods

HRQoL data from 115 patients with benign goiter were analyzed. Thirty-three patients (group 1) had a hemithyroidectomy. Sixty-five patients (group 2) had a so-called Dunhill operation (hemithyroidectomy + near-total thyroidectomy of the opposite side), and in 17 patients, a total resection of the goiter was performed. The validated HRQoL instrument, the EuroQol-5D, was applied to measure the health-related quality of life.

Results

With an overall complication rate of 10% and no permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, it was shown that surgery for benign goiter is safe. In the validated HRQoL questionnaire (EQ-5D), no significant variance could be found between different surgical procedures such as thyroidectomy, hemithyroidectomy, or Dunhill procedure. Further, no significant differences in QoL were found in EQ-5D questionnaire compared to normal population.

Conclusion

Thyroid surgery can be done safely and without impairment of life quality, regardless of the extent of the operation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Hospital of General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    F. Hubertus Schmitz-Winnenthal, Simon Schimmack, Uwe Maier, Miriam Heidmann, Markus W. Buchler & Moritz von Frankenberg

  2. Gastrointestinal Pathobiology Research Group, Department of Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Simon Schimmack & Ben Lawrence

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  1. F. Hubertus Schmitz-Winnenthal
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  2. Simon Schimmack
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  3. Ben Lawrence
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Correspondence to F. Hubertus Schmitz-Winnenthal.

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Schmitz-Winnenthal, F.H., Schimmack, S., Lawrence, B. et al. Quality of life is not influenced by the extent of surgery in patients with benign goiter. Langenbecks Arch Surg 396, 1157–1163 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00423-011-0822-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00423-011-0822-7

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