Risk factors for hypocalcemia and hypoparathyroidism following thyroidectomy: a retrospective Chinese population study

Abstract

Ying-hao Wang,* Adheesh Bhandari,* Fan Yang, Wei Zhang, Li-jun Xue, Hai-guang Liu, Xiao-hua Zhang, Cheng-ze Chen Department of Surgical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Hypocalcemia is one of the most common postoperative complications following thyroid surgery in clinical practice. The occurrence of hypocalcemia is mainly attributed to hypoparathyroidism when parathyroid glands are devascularized, injured, or dissected during the surgery. The aim of this study was to analyze the risk factors for hypocalcemia and hypoparathyroidism following thyroidectomy. Patients and methods: A total of 278 patients who underwent thyroid surgery were analyzed retrospectively. Univariate analysis and multivariable logistic regression were performed to discover the risk factors for hypocalcemia and hypoparathyroidism.Results: Postoperative hypocalcemia occurred in 76 (27.3%) patients and hypoparathyroidism occurred in 42 (15.1%) patients. Seven factors were significantly related to the presence of postoperative hypocalcemia, namely, age (P=0.049), gender (P=0.015), lateral lymph node dissection (P=0.017), operation type (P<0.001), preoperative parathyroid hormone (PTH) level (P=0.035), operation time (P=0.001), and applying carbon nanoparticles (CNs; P=0.007). Our result revealed that gender (P=0.014), lateral lymph node dissection (P=0.038), operation type (P<0.001), operative time (P<0.001), and applying CNs (P=0.001) had a significant correlation with postoperative hypoparathyroidism.Conclusion: These findings were crucial for guiding surgeons to prevent the occurrence of hypocalcemia and hypoparathyroidism. Keywords: hypocalcemia, hypoparathyroidism, thyroidectomy, risk factor 

Keywords

• hypocalcemia
• hypoparathyroidism
• thyroidectomy
• risk factor