Transient hypocalcemia after total thyroidectomy on general surgery services. Hospital Nacional de Itauguá. Period: 2016 – 2022

Abstract

Introduction: Transient post thyroidectomy hypocalcemia is the most frequent complication of neck surgery, it can be mild and asymptomatic, or severe. The objective was to identify the incidence of transient hypocalcemia in patients undergoing total thyroidectomy, in the General Surgery Service of the Hospital Nacional de Itauguá. Material and methods: A descriptive, observational, retrospective, cross-sectional
study was carried out, with a non-probabilistic sampling of consecutive cases of all patients undergoing total thyroidectomy for benign pathology, from January 2016 to December 2022. Conclusions: Of the total of 141 records of operated patients, in the distribution by sex a prevalence of 92% of the female sex with an average age of 55 years ± 5 SD was found. The incidence of laboratory hypocalcemia was 32.6% (46), considering the total calcium value less than 8 mg/dl; however, only 19.9% (27) of the patients presented clinical hypocalcemia.