Patient-Reported Outcomes Following Total Thyroidectomy for Graves' Disease.

Background Graves' disease accounts for ~80% of all cases of hyperthyroidism and is associated with significant morbidity and decreased quality-of-life. Understanding the association of total thyroidectomy with patient-reported quality-of-life and thyroid-specific symptoms is critical to shared decision-making and high-quality care. We estimate the change in patient-reported outcomes (PROs) before and after surgery for patients with Graves' disease to inform the expectations of patients and their physicians. Methods PROs using the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI) validated questionnaire were collected prospectively from adult patients with Graves' disease from January 1, 2015 to November 20, 2020 on a longitudinal basis. Survey responses were categorized as Before Surgery (≤120 days), Short-Term After Surgery ( Results 85 patients with Graves' disease were included. The majority were female (83.5%); 47.1% were Non-Hispanic White and 35.3% were Non-Hispanic Black. The median TSH value prior to surgery was 0.05, which increased to 0.82 in ST and 1.57 in LT. In bivariate analysis, the Total Symptom Burden Score, a composite of all patient-reported burden, significantly reduced shortly after surgery (Before Surgery mean 56.88 vs ST 39.60, p Conclusions Quality-of-life and thyroid-specific symptoms of Graves' patients improved significantly from their baseline prior to surgery to both shortly after and longer after surgery. This work can be used to guide clinicians and patients with Graves' disease on the expected outcomes following total thyroidectomy.