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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Mayo Clinic Housecall
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Risks
By Mayo Clinic staffThyroidectomy is generally a safe procedure. But as with any surgery, thyroidectomy carries a risk of complications.
Potential complications include:
- Bleeding
- Airway obstruction caused by bleeding
- Permanent hoarse or weak voice due to nerve damage
- Damage to the four small glands located behind your thyroid (parathyroid glands), which can lead to hypoparathyroidism, resulting in abnormally low calcium levels in your blood and bones and an increased amount of phosphorus in your blood.
References
- Lal G, et al. Thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal. In: Brunicardi FC, et al. Schwartz's Principles of Surgery. 8th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Companies; 2005. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=817576. Accessed May 13, 2009.
- Thyroid surgery. American Thyroid Association. http://www.thyroid.org/patients/brochures/ThyroidSurgery.pdf. Accessed May 13, 2009.
- Busaidy NL, et al. Endocrine malignancies. In: Kantarjian HM, et al. MD Anderson Manual of Medical Oncology. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2797737. Accessed May 13, 2009.
- Tuttle RM. Surgical treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed May 13, 2009.
- Lal G, et al. Endocrine surgery. In: Gardner DG, et al. Greenspan's Basic and Clinical Endocrinology. 8th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Companies; 2007. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2632048. Accessed May 13, 2009.
- Scheuller MC, et al. Malignant thyroid neoplasms. In: Lalwani AK. Current Diagnosis & Treatment in Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery. 2nd ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Companies; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2829354. Accessed May 13, 2009.
- Graves' disease. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://www.endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/graves/. Accessed May 13, 2009.
- ATA hypothyroidism booklet. American Thyroid Association. http://www.thyroid.org/patients/brochures/Hypothyroidism%20_web_booklet.pdfAccessed May 20, 2009.
