Materials and Method: The study involved 259 patients who had received a total thyroidectomy at Istanbul University, CerrahpaÅŸa Medical Faculty, Department of General Surgery between 2012 and 2013. Patients' demographics, preliminary diagnosis, preoperative serum Vitamin- D, PTH, calcium, phosphorus, albumin, ALP, fT3, fT4, TSH and postoperative PTH, and calcium levels were recorded prospectively and examined retrospectively. Patients were separated into two groups: 65 years old and over (Group 1) and under 65 (Group 2).
Results: There were 49 patients in Group 1 and 210 patients in Group 2. In total 189 were female (73%) and 70 were male (27%). In 22 Group1 patients and 102 Group 2 patients, the serum vitamin D value was <15ng/ml. Mean vitamin D(g/dl) was 8.08±2.9, preoperative PTH(pg/ml) was 83.92±41.7, postoperative PTH(pg/ml) was 60.22±42.9, and postoperative calcium( mg/dl) was 8.57±0.58 for the 22 Group 1 patients and 8.58±3.2, 62.11±21.5, 38.97±32.3, and 8.45±0.67 for the 102 Group 2 patients, respectively. The only significant difference was for preoperative PTH (p=0.026).
Conclusion: These results show that, even though vitamin D deficiency is common in geriatric patients, it does not have a significantly different effect on post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia in geriatric patients than in non-geriatric patients.
Keywords : Hypocalcaemia; Thyroidectomy; Vitamin D Deficiency; Geriatrics; Parathyroid Hormone