Postoperative Bleeding after Thyroid Surgery: Care Instructions

Özet

Prospective studies on the incidence, etiology, and prognosis of well-characterized patients with bleeding after thyroid surgeryare lacking. Bleeding after thyroid surgery cannot be predicted or prevented even if risk factors are known in every single procedure, which enhances the im-portance of the following issues: (a) meticulous hemostasis and surgical technique; (b) coopera-tionwith the anesthesiologist, i.e., controlling the Valsalva maneuver, adequate blood pressure at the end of the operation as well asat extubation phase and (c) in case of bleeding, a prompt management to guarantee a better outcome. This requires an intensivepostoperative clinical monitoring of patients, ideally, in a recovery room with trained staff for at least 4-6 h. Early recognition ofpostoperative bleeding with immediate intervention is the key to the management of this complication.