A Look at Thyroid Surgery with Local Anesthesia
One expert toward Reuters Health that surgeons find the approach more difficult than using general anesthesia, because with a patient awake, theh surgeon must shift focus from the operation itself, to the patient.
In the study reported on in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 1025 patients who went through thyroidectomy under local anesthesia were studied. Among the group, only 3 percent had to be switched to general anesthesia during the surgery.
The researchers also found that the greatest risk factors in local anesthesia for thyroid sugery was for older or more obese patients, surgery for extensive goiter (enlarged thyroid), and operations to remove both sides of the thyroid.
There is, according to experts, one particular advantage to the local anesthesia however: the patient can provide vocal feedback during the surgery. This allows the surgeon to better monitor the status of vocal cord nerves, so that damage can be avoided.
SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Surgeons September 2005.
Comments
It’s good to know that a thyroid operation can be done with local anestesia because I had a near death experience on general anestesia. I will never submit to general again. I was on T4 thyroid hormone then.
iam going through the disease of graves and i have been going through a storm with it ,it will become hyper than it turns out to be hypo iam on 200mg at this time .iam weak most of the time iam having hot flashes like crazy cold one min hot the next second.my doctor said he had never had a patient that was having time like iam .surgery can not be done due to other problems in the body like bone deterning ,muscle spasms,high blood pressure,low at times 99/89 ,iam just going to just believe in god who is the head of my life i try to always stay postive in whatever the case may be in my life …….
Could somebody out there please give me more advice and knowledge about going for thyroid removing. I am scared but this problem with my thyroid is getting me very sick and depressed. Thank You.