Thyroid surgery in burkina faso, west africa: experience from a surgical help program

Abstract
Background  Endemic goiter caused by iodine deficiency is still very common in sub-Saharan Africa and is a surgical challenge because
of the often large size of the goiters.

Methods  A retrospective analysis was made of patients who underwent operation for thyroid diseases during a surgical help program
in Leo/Burkina Faso during a 7-year period from 2001 to 2008.

Results  A total of 253 cases presented with goiters grade III (WHO classification) were operated on: 134 hemithyroidectomies, 108
hemithyroidectomies combined with subtotal contralateral resection, and 11 total thyroidectomies were performed. The recurrent
laryngeal injury rate was 0.8%, and the re-exploration rate for bleeding was 1.2%. Median hospital stay was 3.1 days. Histological
examinations showed Graves’ disease in 6 cases, and multinodular goiter in 231 cases. Follicular cancer was found in 15 cases,
and anaplastic carcinoma was found in 1 case.

Conclusions  Thyroid surgery can be performed with low complication rates under basic surgical conditions. Because of the size and pathology
of the goiters, total thyroidectomy is the method of choice. However, considering the risk of the development of hypothyroidism
due to poor understanding or difficult access to medication, a limited resection, e.g., hemithyroidectomy, is the most optimal
operative strategy.

Content Type Journal ArticleDOI 10.1007/s00268-008-9775-6Authors
B. Rumstadt, Diakonie Hospital Mannheim Department of Surgery Mannheim GermanyB. Klein, Diakonie Hospital Mannheim Department of Surgery Mannheim GermanyH. Kirr, Diakonie Hospital Mannheim Department of Surgery Mannheim GermanyN. Kaltenbach, Diakonie Hospital Mannheim Department of Surgery Mannheim GermanyW. Homenu, Diakonie Hospital Mannheim Department of Surgery Mannheim GermanyD. Schilling, Diakonie Hospital Mannheim Department of Surgery Mannheim Germany

Journal World Journal of SurgeryOnline ISSN 1432-2323Print ISSN 0364-2313 (Source: World Journal of Surgery)  MedWorm Sponsored Message: Find out how you can get your message across here by sponsoring this MedWorm news feed.