Thyroidectomy

What are the indications for performing a thyroidectomy? What incision would you make and what are your landmarks? What layers are traversed in your approach to the thyroid gland? What vessels need to be ligated during the operation and which set of vessels should be ligated first to aid delivery of the gland into the surgical field? What are the important nerves to watch out for? How would you perform a thyroid lobectomy/subtotal thyroidectomy? What are the potential complications that should be told to the patient while gaining informed consent? What should be next to the patient’s bedside postoperatively? Under what circumstance is this used and if this were to occur what else must you do?