Articles: postoperative-complications.
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Two hundred twenty-one patients undergoing thyroidectomy were analyzed for factors increasing the risk of postoperative hypocalcemia. Eighty-three percent of all patients experienced hypocalcemia postoperatively, with 13 percent requiring some treatment for symptoms. ⋯ Total thyroidectomy, repeat thyroidectomy, and thyroidectomy plus neck dissection all significantly increased the incidence of permanent hypocalcemia, whereas lobectomy or subtotal thyroidectomy for benign euthyroid disease were low risk operations. Inadvertent excision of more than one parathyroid gland during thyroidectomy also significantly increased the rate of permanent hypocalcemia.
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Case Reports
Disseminated intravascular coagulopathy associated with thromboexclusion for dissecting aortic aneurysm.
Disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC) was demonstrated in a patient who underwent surgical thromboexclusion by blood flow reversal for dissecting aortic aneurysm. Large clots in the descending thoracic aorta and extra-anatomic bypass grafting might have been causative factors of the consumption coagulopathy. Low-dose heparin together with fresh-frozen plasma was effective; however, extreme caution should be adopted with such patients to minimize the development of DIC, because the factors responsible for the coagulation abnormalities are not removed in patients who undergo the surgical treatment of thromboexclusion.