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RACS ASC 2024

Factors relating to decisional regret following thyroid surgery

Poster

Presentation Description

Institution: Department of Surgery, John Hunter Hospital - New South Wales, Australia

Purpose Decision regret (DR) had been examined in many healthcare settings and is directly related to patients’ health related quality of life. This research sought to evaluate which factors related to thyroid surgery may correlate with high DR. Methodology Adults with benign thyroid nodules or low-risk thyroid cancer who underwent thyroid surgery completed an online survey that assessed decisional regret (DR) using a validated decisional regret scale. Participants self-reported age, sex, disease type, voice change and new postoperative calcium or thyroid hormone supplementation. Five DR questions were quantified and converted to a score between 0 and 100, representing no regret to severe regret, respectively. Results were expressed as mean and standard deviation. All statistical tests were 2-tailed t-tests with P<0.05 considered statistically significant. Results The survey was completed by 132 patients across three Australian states at a median of 1 year and 7 months post-operatively (range: 2 months to 24 years). 80% were female, mean age 57 years and 42% had thyroid cancer. Most participants (60%) reported no DR. There was no difference in DR between male/females or cancer/benign nodules. 11% of patients self-reported some form of calcium supplementation as a result of their thyroid surgery. Persisting voice change was report by 33% and thyroxine use by 49%. None of these factors were associated with statistically significant decisional regret. Conclusion This study reports low levels of DR following thyroid surgery. DR did not correlate with self-reported post-operative health changes. Larger prospective studies are required.

Speakers

Authors

Authors

Dr Jacob Hampton - , Mr Gavin Cooper - , Dr Laura Wall - , Dr Christopher Rowe - , Dr Nicholas Zdenkowski - , Dr Elizabeth Fradgley - , Dr Julie Miller - , Dr Jenny Gough - , Prof Scott Brown - , A/Prof Christine O'Neill -