Symposium on Thyroid Disease.

1 Thyroidectomy is a very satisfactory method for the treatment of thyrotoxicosis. 2 Hypoparathyroidism occurring in up to 3% of patients undergoing surgery is a disturbing complication of thyroidectomy. Better methods of identifying the parathyroid glands during operations are necessary. 3 Exposure of the recurrent laryngeal nerves does not result in their being damaged, but in 5% of patients undergoing thyroidectomy minor voice changes may follow damage to the external laryngeal nerve. 4 Thyroid crisis will not occur if patients are properly prepared for thyroidectomy. 5 Careful diagnosis, pre-operative, operative and post-operative management will yield highly satisfactory results from thyroidectomy for thyrotoxicosis. 6 Although histologically thyrotoxic gland remains after thyroidectomy, this seems of little consequence to subsequent recovery.