Long-term follow-up of surgically treated thyrotoxic patients.

Review of 123 patients whose thyroidectomy for thyrotoxicosis had been performed more than five years previously showed that there were no deaths attributable to surgery, while one hundred patients (81.3%) had been rendered euthyroid. Varying degrees of hyperthyroidism had occurred in 15 (12.2%), and six of these were first diagnosed at follow-up. Hypothyroidism was present in eight (6.5%). Long-term complications of operation were found in 20 patients-subjective voice disturbance in 13, unsightly scars in 4, and hypoparathyroidism in 3.