Complications of Thyroid Surgery*

The various complications of thyroid surgery have long been known to surgeons embarking on the surgical treatment of goiter. These complications may be severe enough to jeopardize the life of the patient or to create a physical or physiologic incapacity which will limit his normal activities. Because of the severity of these complications it becomes necessary that their incidence be reduced to an absolute minimum in this age of modern surgery. Moreover, if surgery is to continue to play a dominant role in the treatment of thyroid disease, the complications of this form of treatment must be less than those of other equally effective forms of treatment.