Surgery for Goiters that Compress the Airway

Surgery for Goiters that Compress the Airway

This retrospective study reviews 14 patients with large goiters that compress the airway. Female patients represent the majority (Female: Male = 9:5). Average age is 61.1 years (range: 36 to 79 years). The main surgical approach is collar incision for 12 patients (85.7%) and an alternative approach is collar incision with partial sternotomy for two (14.3%) patients because these goiters extended to the middle portion of the posterior mediastinum (n = 1) or extended to the anterior and the posterior mediastinum (n = 1). Thyroid resections include four cases of bilateral thyroidectomy, five cases of right-side thyroidectomy and five cases of left-side thyroidectomy. Average operating time was 103 minutes (range: 40 to 343 minutes), average blood loss was 259.3 mL (range: 20 to 1,900 mL) and average postoperative hospital stay was 3.8 days (range: 2 to 20 days). No hospital deaths occurred. One patient experienced postoperative hematoma of the neck due to thrombocytopenia. For all patients, the narrowed tracheal lumen returned to normal following a thyroidectomy.