The impact of no placement of drains in hemithyroidectomy on the postoperative course: A single-institutional study in Japanese patients

Background: Recently, the placement of drains in thyroidectomy has been debated. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of no placement of drains in hemithyroidectomy. : After obtaining approval from the Institutional Review Board, we started not placing drains during surgery in adult patients who underwent hemithyroidectomy with or without central neck lymph node dissection for benign thyroid nodules or well-differentiated thyroid cancer, with informed consent being obtained. We compared the clinical data of the patients without drain placement (n=19) to the historical data of consecutive patients with a suction drain (n=20). Results: The operative wound and amount and characteristics of the drainage fluid were monitored every 2 h after the operation until the following morning, in addition to monitoring the oxygen saturation and an electrocardiogram. The proportion of patients undergoing cervical lymph node dissection was identical between the groups. The drain was removed on Day 1 after surgery in 19 patients and on Day 2 after surgery in 1 patient. The patients without a drain showed a significantly shorter postoperative hospital stay than those with a drain (4.0 vs. 4.5 days, respectively, p=0.03). No patients in either group experienced postoperative or seroma or wound infection. : The hemithyroidectomy patients without a drain were able to be discharged earlier than those with a drain and without any adverse events, provided they received close monitoring after surgery.