Complications after thyroid surgery

We all know in our daily life that the thyroid gland is an important organ of our human body. We should take relevant care measures to avoid thyroid diseases caused by adverse diseases. So what complications will occur after thyroid surgery for patients? The main thing is damage to the nerves in the body, especially the throat, so it will have a certain impact on the patients.

Although surgery is a good solution for patients, the complications caused by surgery will affect their daily lives. Next, let us take a detailed look at some complications after thyroid surgery through this article.

(1) Recurrent laryngeal nerve injury: Recurrent laryngeal nerve injury is mainly caused by direct injury during surgical operations, such as cutting, suturing, clamping or excessive traction. A few cases are caused by hematoma compression or traction of scar tissue. The former develops symptoms immediately during surgery, while the latter develops symptoms several days after surgery. The injuries caused by cutting and suturing are permanent; the injuries caused by clamping, traction or hematoma compression are mostly temporary injuries. After treatment, they can generally recover gradually within 3 to 6 months. Hoarseness caused by unilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve damage can be improved by excessively adducting the healthy vocal cord toward the affected side; bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve damage can lead to paralysis of the vocal cords on both sides, causing aphonia or severe breathing difficulties, requiring tracheotomy.

(2) Superior laryngeal nerve injury: This is usually caused by ligating or cutting the superior thyroid artery and vein, which are far away from the upper pole of the thyroid gland and are not carefully separated, resulting in ligation of a large bundle of surrounding tissue. Injury to the external branch can paralyze the cricothyroid muscle, causing the vocal cords to relax and the pitch to drop. Damage to the internal branches can cause loss of sensation in the laryngeal mucosa, making it easy for the throat to accidentally swallow or choke on water. The patient will usually recover on his own after treatment.

After reading this article, we can learn about some problems that may arise after thyroid surgery. These should attract the attention of patients to avoid worsening of the disease. If you find any adverse symptoms in your daily life, you should seek medical attention promptly and listen to the doctor's advice so that you can relieve the adverse symptoms in time.