THYROIDECTOMY WITH ULTRASONIC DISSECTOR: AN EARLY EXPERIENCE AT LADY READING HOSPITAL

Objectives: to find out operative times and frequency of complications for total thyroidectomy using ultrasonic dissector. methodology: this descriptive study was conducted at department of surgery lady reading hospital, peshawar, from october, 2011 till september, 2012 and included 58 patients. the study included those patients who underwent total thyroidectomy using the harmonic focus^r for benign conditions. results: the age range of the sample was 21-63 years with a mean age of 33.6±3.4 years. only five of all patients included were male with female predominance and having a benign disease. the mean operative time was 59.3±14.1 minutes. the mean hospital stay was 3.1±0.65 days and mean blood in drain at 24 hours was 65.6±17.14 ml. persistent hypocalcaemia and hoarseness at one week was observed in two cases each (3.44%). conclusion: the use of ultrasonic dissector is safe and has significantly reduced operative time. also there was less amount of blood in the drain at 24 hours.