A Clinical Audit of Hemithyroidectomy for Differentiated Thyroid Cancer—Experience from a Tertiary Cancer Center

Existing guidelines recommend lobectomy/hemithyroidectomy (HT) for low-risk thyroid cancer. They are considered safer with lesser complications compared to total thyroidectomy. However, HT is also associated with certain complications. We conducted this retrospective clinical audit of all patients who underwent HT for DTC in our institute from January 2012 to December 2018. The aim of the study was to assess the complications following HT and the follow-up of these patients subsequently. A total of 128 patients satisfied the eligibility criteria. The majority of the patients were women (n = 103, 80.5%). The median age of the patients was 36.5 years (range: 19–77 years). Neck swelling was the most common presentation. All patients underwent conventional open hemithyroidectomy. Five patients had 1–2 metastatic nodes in the central compartment; however, none had metastatic nodes in the lateral neck. Biochemical hypocalcemia (n = 16, 12.5%) was the most common postoperative complication followed by recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy (n = 5, 3.9%). Twenty-six patients developed hypothyroidism at a median duration of 6.5 months following HT necessitating replacement therapy. None of the patients developed recurrence during follow-up (median of 27.5 months). HT is a feasible treatment option for patients with carefully selected cases of DTC. However, HT is also associated with certain complications that should be kept in mind, and patients should be counseled accordingly.