ABSTRACT
Surgical excision of part or whole of thyroid gland is defined as thyroidectomy. It encompasses bilateral (subtotal, total or near-total thyroidectomy [TT]) and unilateral (lobectomy, hemithyroidectomy) surgical procedures. Sub-TT is not uncommonly practiced in present era because of risk of recurrent disease and high morbidities associated with repeat surgery. Decisions regarding the extent of resection depend on pathology. Thyroidectomy is indicated in thyroid malignancy, suspicious of malignancy on history, clinical examination or investigation and in benign goiters with compressive symptoms, retrosternal extension and definitive therapy of hyperthyroidism and sometimes for diagnostic purposes in suspicious cases on fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). Patients planned for thyroid surgery are evaluated by detailed history, physical examination and investigations. Lobectomy is the minimum procedure in thyroid gland, and if isthmus is removed along lobe, it is hemithyroidectomy (HT). HT and lobectomy combination in a patient is defined as TT or it is excision of all visible thyroid tissue which include both lobes, isthmus, pyramidal lobe and thyrothymic rests if present. Hypocalcemia and recurrent laryngeal nerve injury are the two most common postthyroidectomy complications. In today's era, thyroid surgery is a very safe procedure.
