Safety of thyroidectomy as day care surgery at a rural setting in Eastern Uganda

Background: The practice of day care surgery is less embraced in many low-middle-income countries (LMIC), and even less for some procedures considered major such as thyroidectomy. Here we examine the safety of day care thyroidectomy at Kyabirwa Surgical Center, a stand-alone day care surgery center in rural Eastern Uganda.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study conducted between 2019 and 2023. All patients who had day care thyroidectomy were included. Demographics, diagnosis, investigation findings, pathology reports, and surgery outcomes were collected. Postoperative follow-up data up to 30 days were also collected. Data were analyzed using R version 4.3.2.

Results: A total of 51 patients underwent same-day thyroidectomy, with an average age of 44.9 ± 12.1 years and 98% female. Procedures included total thyroidectomy (5, 9.8%), subtotal thyroidectomy (26, 51.0%), and lobectomy (20, 39.2%). Average size of the glands was 7.9 ± 2.21 cm. The majority 46 (90.2%) were of benign pathology. All patients were discharged by the evening of the same day. Complications encountered included hypocalcemia (1), hypertrophic scar (1), seroma (2), and transient recurrent laryngeal nerve injury (1). Overall complications rate was 9.8%. Gland size was statistically significant between patients with no complications (7.68 ± 2.06 cm) versus complications (9.90 ± 2.82, p < 0.05).

Conclusion: With overall low complication rates, these findings suggest that thyroidectomy can safely be performed on a day care basis in a rural LMIC setting with suboptimal health care delivery.