Long-term hypocalcemia prediction post thyroidectomy

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Long-term hypocalcemia prediction post thyroidectomy Via Thyroid Res Pract Deepak Janardhan, Sandeep Suresh, PG Balagopal, Nebu Abraham George, KM Jagathnath Krishna Thyroid Research and Practice 2021 18(1):14-18 Introduction: Hypocalcemia is a common sequela of total thyroidectomy and is usually transient (30%), only a few develop permanent hypoparathyroidism. Till date, no effective risk stratification score to predict hypocalcemia is available that can predict postoperative hypocalcemia. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective observational study including all patients who underwent total or completion thyroidectomy with initial parathormone (PTH) within the normal range in our institution during a 1 year period. Postoperative 6th h PTH fall was noted in all patients and cutoff point for the prediction of long-term hypocalcemia (LTHP) was determined using a paired t-test. Results: Postoperatively, calcium supplementation was initiated in 52% of patients. In 7.6% of patients who had a fall in PTH to more than 80% of preoperative value, calcium supplementation could not be tapered even after 3 months postoperatively. About 66% of patients <20 years of age developed hypocalcemia in the postoperative period. Patients who developed delayed hypocalcemia with initial normal calcium levels had fall in PTH of at least 45%. For individuals below 20 years, a PTH fall of 56% or more required calcium supplementation. The various variables studied failed to attain statistical significance. Conclusions: More than 82% fall in 6th h postoperative PTH predicts long-term hypocalcemia. Post total thyroidectomy, adolescent individuals are at a higher risk of developing hypocalcemia; hence, early calcium supplementation is recommended based on fall in PTH. Weighted score to predict LTHP could not be developed, as none of the risk factors evaluated were statistically significant. View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.