Search

Background: Many studies showed that hospital and surgeon volume have a significant influence on the complication rates of thyroid surgery. The present study investigates whether this relationship applies in subtotal as well as total lobe resections. Furthermore, it is still unclear which threshold for the hospital-related case volume can be determined, above which the risk of complications lies below the current national average., Material and Methods: The study was based on nationwide routine data for persons insured with the Local General Sickness Fund (AOK) who had undergone thyroid surgery in 2014-2016. Permanent vocal cord palsy, bleeding and wound infection needing revision were recorded using indicators. The effect of the case volume on the indicators and the case number threshold was determined using logistic regression., Results: Permanent vocal cord palsy was observed in 1.3% and bleeding or wound infections needing revision in 1.6% and 0.3% of the cases. Compared to hospitals with >450 surgeries per year, the risk of permanent vocal cord palsy in hospitals with fewer than 201, 101 and 51 surgeries was significantly increased (OR [95% CI]: 1.5 [1.1-2.1]; 1.5 [1.1-2.1]; 1.8 [1.3-2.5]). The threshold needed to achieve a risk for permanent vocal cord palsy below the national average (1.3%) was 265 thyroid surgeries per year (95% CI: 110-420). For bleeding or wound infection in need of revision, no association between volume and outcome was found., Conclusion: The present study showed that the risk of postoperative permanent vocal cord palsy decreased with increasing case volume. The broad confidence interval of the threshold makes clear case volume recommendation difficult. In order that the risk for a postoperative permanent vocal cord palsy is not likely above the national average, the annual case volume should reach 110 thyroid interventions.

Background: This study investigated the frequency of postoperative speech therapy in the context of vocal cord palsy after thyroid surgery based on nationwide routine data. Additionally, volume-outcome relationships were examined., Material and Methods: Nationwide routine data from insured patients of the Local Health Insurance Fund (AOK) who underwent thyroid surgery for a benign thyroid disease between 2013 and 2015 were analyzed. Postoperative speech therapy was determined based on prescription data. Transient and permanent vocal cord palsy were determined using indicators. The effect of hospital volumes (volume quintiles) on prescription of postoperative speech therapy was determined by multivariate logistic regression., Results: A total of 50,676 thyroid gland operations were identified. The overall frequency of postoperative speech therapy prescription was 6.5%. In AOK patients with transient or permanent vocal cord palsy, the frequencies of postoperative speech therapy prescription were 56.1% and 75.2%, respectively. The prescription volume of the normal case (≥21 units of speech therapy) was exceeded in 0.7% of the AOK patients. In the two lowest case volume categories the risk of postoperative speech therapy exceeding the prescription volume of the normal case was significantly higher compared to the highest case volume hospitals (odds ratios: 1.2 and 1.8, respectively)., Conclusion: This study presents the reality of healthcare with respect to the frequency of speech therapy prescription after thyroid gland surgery in Germany. In addition, it was determined that the risk of postoperative speech therapy prescription exceeding the volume of the normal case after thyroid gland operations decreases with increasing case volumes of hospitals.

Thyroid resections represent one of the most common operations with 76,140 interventions in the year 2016 in Germany (source Destatis). These are predominantly benign thyroid gland diseases. Recommendations for the operative treatment of benign thyroid diseases were last published by the CAEK in 2010 as S2k guidelines (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Wissenschaftlichen Medizinischen Fachgesellschaften e.V. [AWMF] 003/002) against the background of increasingly more radical resection procedures. Hemithyroidectomy and thyroidectomy are routinely performed for benign thyroid disease in practice. The operation-specific risks show a clear increase with the extent of the resection. Therefore, weighing-up of the risk-indications ratio between unilateral lobectomy or thyroidectomy necessitates an independent evaluation of the indications for both sides. This principle in particular has been used to update the guidelines. In addition, the previously published recommendations of the CAEK for correct execution and consequences of intraoperative neuromonitoring were included into the guidelines, which in particular serve the aim to avoid bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis. Moreover, the recommendations for the treatment of postoperative complications, such as hypoparathyroidism and postoperative infections were revised. The updated guidelines therefore represent the current state of the science as well as the resulting surgical practice.

Background: Routine data from hospitals in the public healthcare system allow the analysis of large patient datasets without generating additional documentation efforts for hospitals. This study reports the frequencies of postoperative complications after thyroid surgery based on routine nationwide data. Moreover, volume-outcome relationships were investigated., Material and Methods: Nationwide routine data from insured patients of the Local Health Insurance Fund (AOK) who underwent thyroid surgery between 2008 and 2010 were analyzed. Complications were determined based on indicators for permanent vocal cord palsy, re-bleeding with re-operations and wound infections with specific treatment. The effect of hospital volumes (volume quintiles) on the indicators was determined by multivariate logistic regression., Results: A total of 66,902 thyroid gland operations were identified. The overall frequency of permanent vocal cord palsy was 1.5 %, re-bleeding 1.8 % and wound infections 0.4 %. In the four lowest case volume categories the risk of permanent vocal cord palsy was significantly higher compared to the highest case volume hospitals (odds ratio 1.5, 1.7, 1.7 and 2.2, respectively)., Conclusion: This study represents the reality of healthcare for thyroid surgery in Germany. Additionally, it was determined that the risk for permanent vocal cord palsy after thyroid gland operations decreased with increasing case volumes of hospitals.

Laparoscopy is very useful in penetrating abdominal trauma, in particular to exclude intraabdominal lesions in stab wounds. In blunt abdominal trauma laparoscopy is not the first choice of diagnostic means though it warrants comparable good results to CTscan and ultrasound. Invasiveness, high costs, and time consuming procedure require a critical and specific application making it suitable especially in unclear clinical situations and equivocal diagnostic findings. Without doubt laparoscopy is only useful in hemodynamically stable patients and is of secondary value in polytraumatized patients. In the future it has to be thought about laparoscopy in local anesthesia and in bedside procedure e.g. on the intensive care unit. Laparoscopy should be regarded as an integral part of diagnostic spectrum in blunt abdominal trauma.

Geographical differences have been demonstrated for the cancer incidence and histology of differentiated thyroid cancer. Iodine intake and specific external noxes, such as nitrosamine ingestion or external radiation are important factors. It is still questionable whether histologically identical differentiated thyroid cancers are prognostically different in low and rich iodine areas. Despite increased knowledge of molecular and genetic changes in differentiated cancer, the present therapy is primarily related to patient age, tumor stage and histology.

Neuroendocrine tumors of the thymus, also known as thymic carcinoids, are rare tumors of the anterior mediastinum. They occur sporadically or in association with MEN I syndrome. We present five patients (four male, one female; age of first manifestation 19-53 years) who were operated on at our hospital between 1984 and 1995 for neuroendocrine thymic tumors. A hormone-producing tumor presented with Cushing's syndrome in two patients. Two patients had MEN I syndrome. Only in the female patient the primary tumor was confined to the thymus. We found lymph node metastases in three patients and a distant metastasis in one. The neuroendocrine tumors have a high rate of local recurrences and thus we performed 11 operations using a transthoracic or transsternal approach. Since there was no operative mortality and adjuvant therapies are of limited value, we recommend surgery even in case of recurrence.

Background: Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) can--even in recurrent cases--only be treated surgically. Therefore, preoperative localization of the tumor is essential., Methods: From April 1986 through April 1997, 137 patients with MTC were operated on at our clinic. In 22 patients with recurrent tumor which had not been radiologically localized, 28 selective venous catheterizations (SVC) with determination of calcitonin levels were carried out., Results: In 23 examinations a suspected tumor could be identified (nine cervical unilateral, seven mediastinal, four cervical unilateral and mediastinal, one cervical bilateral and mediastinal, one liver, one cervical unilateral and liver). In 18 cases surgery was performed for recurrence (nine cervical revisions, one mediastinal dissection, six cervicomediastinal dissections, two laparotomies). In 15 of 18 cases, tumor tissue was found in the previously suspected area. In ten cases serum calcitonin levels dropped postoperatively by 6%-75%. A normalization of the hormone level was achieved only once by yet another operation. During further follow-up, five of the reoperated patients died from their disease. The other 17 patients are being followed up, whereby calcitonin levels are elevated but there is no clinical or radiological evidence of tumor., Conclusions: Although in the patient cohort presented a normalization of serum calcitonin could be achieved only once, the authors consider SVC useful because it is the only means of localization of tumor tissue in cases of negative radiologic studies and therefore allows a planned approach to the operation procedure in these cases.

Surgical therapy of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) includes thyroidectomy plus central lymph node dissection and postoperative radioiodine therapy. In cases of lymph node metastasis, T3/T4 tumors and C-cell-carcinoma (after thyroidectomy) uni- or bilateral modified radical lymph node dissection of the neck (neck dissection) and of the mediastinum is recommended. The importance of lymph node metastasis for prognosis of survival in papillary, follicular and C-cell-carcinoma is discussed controversial, however. Even the kind of surgical radicality is questioned. Thus a metaanalysis of 35 studies in 29 independent publications from a pool of 2186 studies was performed. Univariate analysis demonstrates lymph node metastasis as a negative prognostic factor in papillary carcinoma with a 3.25/2.97, in follicular carcinoma with a 7.62/4.0 and in C-cell-carcinoma with a 3.33/3.37 higher probability of mortality 5 and 10 years after operation. Modification of the present surgical therapy can therefore only be accepted after univariate and multivariate analysis of all prognostic factors (age, sex, cell type, tumor extent, lymph node- and distant metastasis) and after it has proven superiority to the present strategy in prospective randomised trials.

Subtotal parathyroidectomy (SPTX) and total parathyroidectomy with autotransplantation (PTX and AT) are now equivalent and challenging surgical procedures, that now involve very low morbidity even in patients with serious secondary illness. In most cases, either brings about a significant amelioration of quality of life. It is rare for the illness to persist after such an operation. In most cases, this is the case only after an inadequate primary operation. An actual recurrence of the illness after at least 6 months is a much more serious problem and cannot usually be attributed to an inadequate operation. Our experience is based on operations performed in 143 patients and a follow-up of up to 8 years. In 68.7% of cases there was a noticeable improvement of bone pain immediately after the operation. This rate fell to 61.5% during subsequent years. Comparable results could not be achieved with any drug therapy. After SPTX the recurrence rate was 4.5%, and after PTX and AT, 5.5%. This is comparable to the results cited in the literature.

Persisting hypercalcemia after surgery for primary hyperparathyroidism is a challenge for the surgeon: once non-parathyroid causes for the hypercalcemia have been excluded the only remaining possible causes are ineffective surgery and a failed surgery. Between 1986 and 1994, 414 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism were operated upon, 32 of whom presented with persisting hypercalcemia; 24 of these patients had their first operation in another hospital. The cause for persisting hypercalcemia was a single adenoma in 27 patients (84%), double adenoma in 2 patients and primary hyperplasia in 2 patients. In 1 patient an unsuccessful revision operation was performed. In 17 patients the parathyroid glands had an atypical position. There were 11 patients who presented with recurrent hyperplasia. The reasons for recurrence were double adenoma in 2 patients and hyperplasia in 8 cases (73%). In 1 patient no pathologic gland was found. Although preoperative localization studies were positive in only 32%, the overall surgical success rate fortunately amounted to a satisfactory 95%.

Between April 1986 and January 1992, a total of 22 patients with chronic renal failure were operated on for secondary hyperparathyroidism after kidney transplantation, and 21 of these patients were normocalcemic postoperatively. In 1 patient three reductions of autotransplanted parathyroid tissue were performed and this patient was still hypercalcemic postoperatively, with a serum calcium of 2.65 mmol/l. The renal function was not impaired by parathyroidectomy. In 9 of the 22 patients subtotal parathyroidectomy was indicated within 4 months after renal transplantation because of serum calcium levels over 3.0 mmol/l or severe clinical symptoms. Subtotal parathyroidectomy is indicated in patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism after renal transplantation with a serum calcium over 3.0 mmol/l and severe clinical symptoms and also in patients with slightly elevated serum calcium levels after an observation period of up to 12 months.

Six out of a series of 10 patients with hyperparathyroidism associated with an MEA type I syndrome were treated by subtotal parathyroidectomy with resulting normocalcaemia over a follow-up time of one to 7 years. Three patients with repeated previously unsuccessful operations underwent total parathyroidectomy with simultaneous autotransplantation. The first type of operation remains our first choice, while the radical approach with forearm transplantation is reserved only for recurrent surgery for various reasons.

The incidence of acute abdomen in patients with unrecognised hyperparathyroidism (HPT) was investigated in 61 patients with primary and 15 patients with secondary HPT, operated on at the Surgical University Department in Düsseldorf between 4/86 and 10/87. In seven patients (9%) an acute abdomen occurred preoperatively (bleeding ulcer n = 3, ulcer perforation n = 1, acute pancreatitis n = 3). Recurrent gastrointestinal disease was observed in 20 of the 76 Patients (28%). The fast and surprising clinical recovery of patients with pancreatitis and HPT after operation of the HPT support the assumption of a causal relation between hyperparathyroidism and pancreatitis. The importance of hypercalcaemia and HPT as causative factors in gastrointestinal ulcers, remains uncertain, however. Possible acute abdominal emergencies in the clinical course of primary hyperparathyroidism support the indication for early operation.