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Improvement of quality of life in patients with benign goiter after surgical treatment

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Abstract

Purpose

A quality of life (QoL) assessment is considered an important outcome measure in the treatment of benign thyroid diseases. The aims of this study were to analyze the impact of different surgical treatments on QoL in patients with benign thyroid diseases and to evaluate factors correlating with the QoL outcomes.

Methods

A prospective longitudinal study was conducted. One hundred thirty-two patients met the inclusion/exclusion criteria and completed the disease-specific questionnaire, thyroid patient-reported outcome (ThyPRO), before surgery and after 6 months. Preoperative and postoperative QoL outcomes were compared and correlating factors were analyzed.

Results

Indication for surgery was euthyroid goiter, toxic goiter, and suspicious malignant thyroid disease in 58.3, 29.5, and 12.1 % of the patients, respectively. None of the patients had overtly toxic goiter. There were 65.2 % of the patients who underwent total thyroidectomy, while 34.8 % underwent hemithyroidectomy. The total postoperative complication rate was 5.3 %. QoL improved significantly after surgical treatment, independent of the extent of performed surgery. The most affected domain, pre- and postoperative, was for tiredness. QoL improvement was significant for women in all domains, while for men, it was significant in only three domains (goiter symptoms, emotional susceptibility, and cosmetic complaints) and in overall QoL. Younger patients had significantly better cognitive functioning and daily life, while elderly patients had significantly less cosmetic complaints. The factors that significantly correlated with improvement of QoL in different domains were lower education level, duration of disease, and microcarcinoma at final histology.

Conclusion

QoL in patients with benign thyroid diseases improves significantly after operative treatment, independent of the extent of the operation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (Grant No. 175 042). We also thank Torquil Watt, the developer of ThyPRO questionnaire, for collaboration in the translation process and for permitting us to use the questionnaire in the study.

Conflicts of interest

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Visegradska 26, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Branka R. Bukvic & Sandra B. Sipetic

  2. General Hospital Uzice, Health Center Uzice, Milosa Obrenovica 17, Uzice, 31000, Serbia

    Branka R. Bukvic

  3. Faculty of Medicine, Center for Endocrine Surgery, Clinical Center of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Koste Todorovica 8, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Vladan R. Zivaljevic, Aleksandar D. Diklic, Katarina M. Tausanovic & Ivan R. Paunovic

Authors
  1. Branka R. Bukvic
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  2. Vladan R. Zivaljevic
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  3. Sandra B. Sipetic
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  4. Aleksandar D. Diklic
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  5. Katarina M. Tausanovic
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  6. Ivan R. Paunovic
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Correspondence to Branka R. Bukvic.

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Bukvic, B.R., Zivaljevic, V.R., Sipetic, S.B. et al. Improvement of quality of life in patients with benign goiter after surgical treatment. Langenbecks Arch Surg 399, 755–764 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00423-014-1221-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00423-014-1221-7

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