Open AccessA Report on Outpatient Thyroid Surgery from the University Health System Consortium
Author(s) -
Stack Brendan C.,
Spencer Horace,
Bodenner Donald
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
otolaryngology–head and neck surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.232
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1097-6817
pISSN - 0194-5998
DOI - 10.1177/0194599811416318a59
Subject(s) - medicine , thyroid , thyroid cancer , thyroid disease , general surgery , outpatient surgery , neck dissection , dissection (medical) , demographics , thyroidectomy , surgery , cancer , ambulatory , demography , sociology
Objective Determine demographics and cost analysis for outpatients undergoing thyroid surgery at hospitals belonging to the University Health System Consortium (UHC). Method The University Health System Consortium (UHC), Oak Brook, Illinois, was formed in 1984 and consists of 107 academic medical centers and 232 of their affiliated hospitals. This represents 90% of non‐profit academic medical centers in the United States ( www.uhc.edu ). Data were compiled from discharge summaries into a secure data base. Results There were 28,648 patients who had outpatient thyroid surgery. A total of 19,487 patients had thyroid surgery for benign disease. A total of 8,909 patients had surgery for thyroid cancer. A total of 36.2% of surgeries were hemithyroidectomy and 44.5% were totals. A total of 1,333 of the thyroid cancer patients had a simultaneous neck dissection (5%). A total of 252 patients had neck dissection for thyroid cancer as a separate procedure. The average age was 48.7 (14.7) years and 71.8% of patients were female. Conclusion Thyroid surgery is increasingly being done outpatient. Improved surgical technique, anesthesia technique, hemostatic methods, and calcium management make this possible. This becomes a cost‐effective way to manage both benign and malignant thyroid diseases. This is the largest series reporting outpatient thyroid surgery.