Assessing Quality of Life in Patients with Graves’ Disease Following Thyroidectomy

Introduction. Graves’ disease is a disorder associated with thyroid gland producing excessive amounts of hormones which causes changes in the functional status of various organs and systems. Among thyroid disorders it takes the second place (after endemic goitre) in prevalence. Until now, there is no consensus on a single strategy for the treatment of disorders of the thyroid gland. This is why this paper aims to assess the impact of surgical treatment of Graves’ disease on patients’ quality of life and whether it would be possible to improve it by following the surgery with hormone replacement therapy.

Materials and methods. This paper presents a retrospective analysis of 70 case histories of patients who received surgical treatment for diffuse toxic goitre at the BIH UR “First Republican Teaching Hospital” MH UR,Izhevsk, in the period from 2008 to 2014. Percentages of the disease by stage were as follows: stage II — 20%, stage III — 70%, stage 4 — 10%. One lobe resection was performed in 3% of patients, two lobe resection — in 1%, hemithyroidectomy — in 18±4.6%, subtotal resection — in 8%, thyroidectomy — in 70±5.5%.

Results. Percentages of patients with various degrees of severity of postoperative hypothyroidism were as follows: severe — 66%, medium — 29%, light — 5%; there were no Graves’ disease recurrences. Patients’ complaints following thyroidectomy included body weight gain — 79.1±4.8%, cold in extremities — 83.3±4.4%, cardiac arrhythmia — 85.2±4.2%, oedemas — 84.3±4.3%, drowsiness, atonia — 67.1±5.6%, changes in appetite — 21±4.8%, skin pallor — 47.6±5.9%, brittle nails, hair loss — 51.2±5.9%, joint pain — 31.2±5.53%.

Conclusion. Hypothyroidism always follows thyroidectomy and requires ongoing hormone replacement therapy with L-thyroxine. Th quality of life does not have to suffer if an individual dosage is established and followed on a permanent basis.

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