Selective prophylactic calcium supplementation reduces length of stay after total thyroidectomy

Abstract

Introduction: Hypocalcemia is a common complication of thyroidectomy. We aimed to assess compliance with a targeted calcium and calcitriol supplementation protocol and hypothesized that it would allow safe early discharge without an increase in readmissions. Materials and methods: In 2009, we instituted a targeted early postoperative calcium and calcitriol supplementation protocol based on postoperative parathyroid hormone (PTH). We retrospectively reviewed all patients who had a total or completion thyroidectomy over a 4-year period prior to protocol implementation (group I: 2005–2008) and over a 5-year period after protocol implementation (group II: 2010–2014), as well as all patients oper..