A Prospective Study on Safety of Bipolar Diathermy in Thyroid Surgery

Abstract

Introduction: Thyroidectomy is one of the commonly performed surgeries with minimal morbidity. With the advent of newer technology the average surgical duration, post operative hospital stay and post operative complication rates has been reduced even more as compared to that a decade ago. This study is aimed to find out the safety profile of use of bipolar cauterisation technique in haemostatic management and the incidence of postoperative complications in thyroidectomy.
Materials and Methods: This is a prospective observational study in a tertiary care hospital. A total of 51 patients in the age group 18-80 years who underwent thyroidectomy surgery between 2021 January to June 2022 is evaluated and the results were analysed.
Results: Out of the 51 patients we performed 26 total, 8 near total thyroidectomy and 17 hemithyroidectomy. The average surgical duration for hemithyroidectomy was 39.5 minutes and that of total thyroidectomy was 69.3 minutes. Average blood loss during the surgery was 15 ml and 24 ml in hemithyroidectomy and total thyroidectomy groups respectively. The average post operative surgical drain volume was 18.3 ml in the hemithyroidectomy group and in near total and total thyroidectomy group it was close to 30 ml. The drain was able to be removed in most of the patients by day two. No statistically significant difference were found between the duration of procedure and post operative complication.
Conclusion: The use of bipolar thermal device provide a cost-effective method in achieving haemostasis of the thyroid pedicle. This is a promising alternative to standard ligature techniques. It offers reduced operative time there by reducing peri and post operative morbidity and mortality.