Abstract
Introduction Thyroid nodules are common globally in almost one fifth of the adult population.
The gold standard treatment for thyroid nodule is thyroid lobectomy or total thyroidectomy
depending upon the diagnosis. Thyroidectomy has a few known complications but, as
per the ATA consensus statement, it is a safe surgery to be done as a day care procedure.
Objective To access the feasibility and safety of thyroid lobectomy as a day care surgery and
its effect on decreasing overall financial burdens.
Methods This retrospective chart review was done from 2006 to 2022. A total of 736 patients
underwent thyroid lobectomy among which only 56 were done as day care surgery. Data
analysis was done using the IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0 (IBM Corp.,
Armonk, NY, USA).
Results A total of 40% of the population was male. The mean age of the study population was
42 years. Bethesda II was the most encountered diagnosis, with a rate of 69%. The
majority of patients were discharged after 6 hours of postoperative observation. The
only complication encountered was seroma, which was seen in two patients.
Conclusion Thyroid lobectomy appears to be a safe procedure with a drastic difference in overall
cost as a day care procedure. We recommend switching the practice of inpatient thyroid
lobectomy to a day care procedure in carefully selected candidates. The major hurdle
in day care lobectomy can be approval from insurance.
Keywords
thyroid - thyroid nodule - daycare surgery - ambulatory surgery - thyroid lobectomy
