When you are told that you need to undergo surgery, you want the brightest minds and the steadiest hands performing your operation. This is true in any specialty, but recent news suggests that this is even more important when it comes to thyroid surgery. We explain why it’s so important to have an experienced thyroid surgeon like Dr. Koeplin perform your operation in today’s blog.
Thyroid Surgery Complications
No matter how routine a surgery is, there’s always the possibility that complications will develop. Whenever we open the human body, there’s the possibility that an infection will set in or a blood vessel will be nicked. However, doctors and medical teams work in unison to minimize these risks as much as possible.
A new study conducted on nearly 28,000 patients who underwent a surgical procedure on their thyroid revealed that complications are sometimes more common depending on some modifiable and unmodifiable factors that are present at the time of the operation. For example, individuals over the age of 65 and those with other pre-existing conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure were much more likely to experience a complication compared to younger, healthier patients (It’s still worth noting that even for these patients, the overall likelihood of developing a complication was still very low).
Now, there’s not much you can do about your age. You can exercise and eat a healthy diet, but if your thyroid gland starts acting up at 70, you can’t turn back time and reduce your risk of complications. However, researchers did uncover a secret to reducing your risk of experiencing a complication during a thyroidectomy.
Experience Matters
All endocrine surgeons are knowledgeable about the best practices for minimizing the risk of complications, but researchers found one key factor that was associated with an actual reduction in complications – regular surgical experience. What that means is that surgeons who have regularly performed thyroidectomies and other thyroid-related surgeries are best at reducing complication rates, even among higher-risk populations.
Study researcher Dr. Megan Haymart noted that there was a “relationship between high surgical volume and lower complication rates” among doctors who regularly perform operations on the thyroid. “Therefore,” she continued, “for patients at higher risk of complications, referral to high-volume surgeons may be optimal. In addition, efforts to effectively train low-volume surgeons in order to adopt best-practice strategies,, decrease practice variation, and implement prompt recognition and management of post-operative complications are needed.”
St. Paul Thyroid Surgeon
Now, it’s probably not a shocking revelation that surgeons who are routinely performing thyroid operations are best at reducing complication rates, but it’s important nonetheless. Dr. Koeplin regularly performs thyroid operations, and he meticulously works with his surgical team to ensure that they do everything in their power to prevent complications and achieve surgical success. So if you’ve been told you need a thyroid operation, trust the operation to someone who routinely performs the operation and has a track record to prove it. Trust Dr. Koeplin. Contact his office today to learn more about your options.
