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Background: Hypocalcemia is a common complication of total thyroidectomy; transient hypocalcemia has been reported in up to 68% of the patients.Materials and Methods: Chart review of all patients undergoing total thyroidectomy from 2016 to 2020.Clinical, biochemical, and pathological information was registered.We sought correlations between the different variables and the occurrence of post-operative hypocalcemia.This is a retrospective study carried out at a tertiary care teaching hospital.Objectives: The aim of the study was to ascertain the incidence of hypocalcemia after thyroidectomy and to establish potential clinical and pathological risk factors for its development.Results: Three hundred and thirty-seven patients were included in this study (78% female), with a median age of 47 years.The majority (75%) harbored thyroid neoplasms.Post-operative hypocalcemia developed in 43 patients (12.7%).On bivariate analysis, the most significant risk factor was an intraoperative injury of the parathyroid glands (OR = 2.49, 95% CI = 1.11-5.59),followed by a surgical time > 2.5 h (OR = 2.0, 95% CI = 1.03-4.19), concomitant lymph node dissection (OR = 2.45, 95% CI = 1.2-4.9),and placement of drains (OR = 2.40, 95% CI = 1.19-4.87).Only parathyroid injury remained statistically significant on multivariable analysis.Conclusions: The most significant risk factor for the development of post-operative hypocalcemia after thyroidectomy is injury of the parathyroid glands, which is usually noticed by the surgeon.
Shuchleib-Cung et al. (Mon,) studied this question.