A Study of the incidence of early complications after general anesthesia in thyroid surgery patients at Damascus Hospital

Abstract Introduction: Anesthesia is one of the vital and very important procedures in surgeries, as it helps to relieve pain and reduce stress on the body during surgery, which helps to improve surgical results and reduce the risk of infection. Postoperative throat pain is common, especially after general anesthesia, as endotracheal intubation is associated with a risk of postoperative throat pain, which is more common than when using supraglottic airway openers or a face mask. Thyroid surgeries are associated with many potential surgical complications, with recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis resulting in unilateral hoarseness, aphonia, and stridor. Research Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study (COHORT) was conducted from April 2023 to November 2023 including patients attending the Department of General Surgery who had undergone thyroid surgery under general anesthesia in Damascus Hospital, Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic. A paper questionnaire was conducted and patients visiting the General Surgery Department in Damascus Hospital were followed up during the period of conducting the research. Accordingly, the questionnaire was filled out and the data was reviewed under the supervision of the research supervisor. Results The sample included 110 patients, of which 9 were excluded, leaving us with 101 cases on which research and statistics were conducted. 95% were females and only 5% were males. Participants are classified into three groups, with the age group (40–60) years representing the majority at 49.5% (mean 42.7 years). The data was distributed according to 3 categories according to TSH, T4, and T3 values into normal, high, and low. It was found that 84.2% of individuals had normal TSH values, 89.1% of individuals had normal T4 values, and 59.4% of individuals had normal T3 values. Regarding the type of surgery performed, Research and statistics showed that 84.2% of patients underwent total thyroidectomy, mostly because of multi-nodular goiter (enlarged thyroid gland), with a rate of 86.1%. we also studied the relationship between complications, endotracheal tube diameter, and the duration of surgery Conclusion It is necessary to use small endotracheal tubes as much as possible and shorten the duration of the surgical procedure as much as possible.