Background: Thyroid enlargement has been a common problem encountered in general surgical practice. Thyroid being an endocrine gland, its involvement has a diverse issue from a meagre cosmetic problem to a more concerned malignancy.
Aim: This study was conducted to study the age and sex distribution along with the mode of presentation of Multinodular Goitre (MNG). The incidence of malignancy and the surgical complications in the study population were also studied.
Materials and methods: In this descriptive study, patients diagnosed with MNG from January 2011 to July 2012 were chosen from the in-patient of our teaching hospital. One hundred such patients who qualified to undergo surgery were included in the study after a detailed history and clinical examination. Patients underwent Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) for preoperative pathological diagnosis and the goitre was confirmed to be benign. Patients diagnosed with malignancy were excluded from the study. Following thyroidectomy, the thyroid specimens were subjected to histopathological examination.
Results: Among the 100 cases of MNG, 59% patients belonged to 3rd and 4th decade of life, 90% patients were females, 82% presented before 5yrs. The most common symptom at presentation was swelling (100%). Among the patients 80% were in euthyroid state, 19% were hyperthyroid and 1% hypothyroid. Most of the patients were treated with sub-total thyroidectomy (59%), followed by total (20%), near total (11%), and Hemithyroidectomy (10%). Following surgery complications like stridor and laryngeal oedema (3%), wound infection (2%), hypocalcemia (2%), haemorrhage (1%) and seroma (1%) were noted. On Histopathological examination (HPE) of the surgical specimen, 3% were reported to be malignant.
Conclusion: As noted by this study, Multinodular Goitre is more common among females in the third and fourth decades. Patients can present with various complaints. MNG can present as hyperthyroid, hypothyroid but mostly in euthyroid state. The indication for surgery in patients with MNG includes cosmesis, hyperthyroidism, local compressive symptoms and most importantly malignancy. Subtotal thyroidectomy is the preferred surgery, but a trend towards total and near total thyroidectomy is noticeably replacing the old belief in subtotal thyroidectomy.
Keywords: Malignancy; Thyroid Swelling; Thyroidectomy.