Role of vitamin D as a risk factor in post-thyroidectomy transient hypocalcemia: a prospective study

Authors

  • Khamar J. Banu Department of General Surgery, K. S. Hegde medical academy, Mangalore, Karnataka
  • Shubhakar C. Bhandary Department of General Surgery, K. S. Hegde medical academy, Mangalore, Karnataka
  • Aditya D. Godkhindi Department of General Surgery, K. S. Hegde medical academy, Mangalore, Karnataka

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2349-2902.isj20161591

Abstract

Background:With increase in the number of thyroidectomies, the incidence of post-operative hypocalcaemia has seen a rise as well. Deficiency of vitamin D has long been debated as a risk factor for post thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia. The advantage of using vitamin D as a predictor for post-operative hypocalcaemia is (i) easy to estimate (ii) any deficiency can be easily corrected.

Methods: A prospective study with total of sixty one patients who underwent total thyroidectomy irrespective of the pathology. Serum calcium and vitamin D were investigated preoperatively. Serum calcium was repeated in post-operative period. The association between vitamin D and hypocalcaemia was evaluated using Fischer’s exact test.

Results:Hypocalcaemia was seen in 14.28% of patients with lower vitamin D levels. When Fischer’s exact test was applied, two tailed ‘p’ value is 0.5195, which is not statistically significant.

Conclusions:Though vitamin D estimation can be an easy method in predicting post thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia, our study does not indicate the same.

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Published

2016-12-09

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Section

Original Research Articles