A large number of patients with one or another pathology of the endocrine system, having not received the desired result from drug treatment, are in urgent need of surgical intervention performed in this case by an endocrinologist.
According to generally accepted standards, operations on the thyroid gland should certainly be carried out only in a specialized medical institution by an experienced professional with the appropriate specialization. It is precisely this approach that has allowed over the past decades to improve the quality of such interventions by an order of magnitude.
Thyroid Surgery : Key Indications
As practice shows, in our country quite often doctors made mistakes in determining the indications for surgical interventions. That is, those who could be cured with medication fell on the operating table. Fortunately, today medicine in this direction has gone far ahead. According to some statistics, only 15% of patients with thyroid diseases are currently operating. This is due to the thoughtful and correct approach of specialists. So, the main indications may be:
- malignant and benign (in rare cases) tumors;
- thyroid gland calcification;
- euthyroid, toxic and nodular goiter;
- an increase in the size of the nodes of the thyroid gland.
Types of Surgical Interventions
Note that the ongoing operations on the thyroid gland differ from each other depending on the stage of the disease and the general condition of the patient. Frequently used operations now:
- Thyroidectomy. The thyroid gland is completely removed. Doctors use this method to treat tumors, multinodal and toxic goiter.
- Subtotal resection. In this case, after the operation on the thyroid gland , its small sections remain. It is carried out with multinodular and toxic goiter, with Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
- Hemithyroidectomy. Here one of the lobes of the thyroid gland is removed. Often used in follicular tumors.
If we consider the pros and cons of surgical interventions in the treatment of the thyroid gland, then perhaps the main positive point is the complete elimination of the thyroid gland nodes and related complaints. Unfortunately, none of the currently developed treatment methods give such a result as thyroid surgery. Reviews about it speak for themselves - thousands of people have already got rid of such an unpleasant ailment.
However, surgical treatment has some drawbacks. All of them, as a rule, are associated with the possibility of certain complications - both after surgery on the thyroid gland, and during it. The most serious and dangerous of the complications is damage to the vocal folds. The next possible complication is damage to the smallest glands that are located behind the thyroid gland.
To resort to surgical intervention or not, of course, it is up to you and your doctor to decide. The main thing in this matter is to turn to a good doctor who will make the correct diagnosis, and go through all the necessary examinations.