• D-J van Beek, M Almquist, A O Bergenfelz, T J Musholt, E Nordenström, and  on behalf of the EUROCRINE® Council.
• Departments of Endocrine and Sarcoma Surgery, Sweden.
• Br J Surg. 2020 Oct 14.

BackgroundSurgery is the curative therapy for patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). In determining the extent of surgery, the risk of complications should be considered. The aim of this study was to assess procedure-specific outcomes and risk factors for complications after surgery for MTC.MethodsPatients who underwent thyroid surgery for MTC were identified in two European prospective quality databases. Hypoparathyroidism was defined by treatment with calcium/active vitamin D. Recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) palsy was diagnosed on laryngoscopy. Complications were considered at least transient if present at last follow-up. Risk factors for at-least transient hypoparathyroidism and RLN palsy were identified by logistic regression analysis.ResultsA total of 650 patients underwent surgery in 69 centres at a median age of 56 years. Hypoparathyroidism, RLN palsy and bleeding requiring reoperation occurred in 170 (26·2 per cent), 62 (13·7 per cent) and 17 (2·6 per cent) respectively. Factors associated with hypoparathyroidism were central lymph node dissection (CLND) (odds ratio (OR) 2·20, 95 per cent c.i. 1·04 to 4·67), CLND plus unilateral lateral lymph node dissection (LLND) (OR 2·78, 1·20 to 6·43), CLND plus bilateral LLND (OR 2·83, 1·13 to 7·05) and four or more parathyroid glands observed (OR 4·18, 1·46 to 12·00). RLN palsy was associated with CLND plus LLND (OR 4·04, 1·12 to 14·58) and T4 tumours (OR 12·16, 4·46 to 33·18). After compartment-oriented lymph node dissection, N0 status was achieved in 248 of 537 patients (46·2 per cent).ConclusionComplications after surgery for MTC are procedure-specific and may relate to the unavoidable consequences of radical dissection needed in some patients.© 2020 The Authors. British Journal of Surgery published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of BJS Society Ltd.

12 keywords...

hide…