The use of drains in thyroid surgery.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the necessity and benefits of the use of drains and their limitations in thyroidectomy and assess their relationship with cost of surgery and hospital stay. METHODS We conducted a prospective randomised study on 67 patients divided into two groups. A consisted of 35 patients with drain and B, 32 patients without drain between January 2005 and June 2007. All had subtotal thyroidectomy and the technique and method of closure were the same. No anticoagulant was used and the clotting profiles were within normal range in the two groups. RESULTS The sixty seven patients recruited for the study were made up of 60 females (89.6%) and 7 males (10.4%). The mean age for group A was 50.14 +/- 10.7 years, group B was 51.97 +/- 9.5 years. The P value for the mean ages of the two groups is 0.464 (p=0.05,t=3.98).There was no blood transfusion. Three patients developed features of respiratory obstruction (respiratory distress and stridor) -the first 2, one from each group was as a result of laryngeal oedema from trauma of difficult intubation. The third was from group B, as a result of hemorrhage and haematoma collection (she was one of the controlled thyrotoxic patients). Two patients (5.7%) developed wound infections in group A, which increased morbidity, hospital bill and prolonged hospital stay as compared to group B. The highest volume of drainage of 35ml was from a woman with a big goiter (120g). Average drainage was 17.7 +/- 6.9ml. CONCLUSION The use of drains is not necessary in all cases of thyroidectomy but for cases with large cavity post extraction and copious oozing in vascular glands. Some of the limitations to the use of drains are infections, this can prolong hospital stay and thereby increase hospital bill.