Abstract
We examined 32 patients who underwent subtotal thyroidectomy for Graves' disease by the same operater (chief author) in Tenri Hospital during 2 years (from 2002 to 2003) in a retrospective study. The first 13 patients were treated with subtotal resection on both sides and the second 19 patients underwent subtotal resection with contralateral hemithyroidectomy (Hartley-Dunhill method). We perform surgical treatment aiming at the euthyroid and the weight of remnant thyroid tissue of about 6 g for QOL. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups concerning loss of blood and operation time. Postoperative hypocalcemia tended to occur in large goiter whose weight was more than 100 g. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups concerning the incidence of post-operative hypocalcemia. In this study we did not perform transplantation of parathyroid glands in all cases, even if we could not preserve parathyroid vascular supply and they became ischemic. Although permanent tetany was seen in one case, that was a giant goiter with the total weight of 280g.
