Publication:

A study of use of bipolar cautery in thyroidectomy

Background Thyroidectomy is one of the most commonly performed surgeries throughout the world which has an extremely low morbidity rate. Nowadays with the advent of newer techniques the duration of surgery and complications have decreased. Conventionally Thyroidectomy was done by suture knot tying technique which needs large number of surgical ties and also time consuming. It decreases healing as well as increases wound infection, injury to neighboring structures and foreign body reaction.

Methods In this study, I selected 50 patients with thyroid swelling attending the surgery outpatient department from February 2015 to August 2015. Thyroid surgery was done using bipolar cautery. The results were analyzed.

Results This study shows most of the patients belong to 30-40 years followed by 40-50 years. The male: female ratio is 1:25. Time duration varies from 50 minutes to 135 minutes. The longer duration of surgery compared to other studies is attributed to learning curve. We started using bipolar diathermy since 2013. The blood loss ranges from 25-50 ml. Complication rates are also less with bipolar thyroidectomy, 2% had postoperative hemorrhage, 2% developed temporary RLN palsy, 2% developed minor degree of wound infection, and 6% developed signs and symptoms of hypocalcemia. The mean duration of hospital stay was 4 days.

Conclusions Thyroidectomy using bipolar cautery is safe and effective method and also less time consuming. The cost of the bipolar cautery is less compared to harmonic scalpel and LigaSure. Bipolar cautery is available in our government hospital. Blood loss using Bipolar Cautery is less compared to conventional Knot–tying technique. The post-operative complications are less with bipolar cautery.