Thyroidectomy in patients with marked thyroid enlargement: Airway management, morbidity, and outcome

The medical records of 91 patients who underwent thyroidectomy from 1990 to 1993 were reviewed to evaluate airway management and operative morbidity in patients with marked thyroid enlargement. Twenty-nine patients with marked thyroid enlargement were identified: 13 unilateral, defined by a weight of ≥40 g (mean 122 g, range 41-380 g), and 16 bilateral, defined by a weight of ≥80 g (mean 160 g, range 82-404 g). Twenty-five patients had compressive symptomatology, 18 had tracheal narrowing and/or displacement, 19 had substernal extension, and one had superior vena cava syndrome. Unilateral vocal cord dysfunction was present in two of three patients with carcinoma and one of 26 patients with benign disease (P=0.03)