Drainage after thyroid surgery: a prospective randomized study

Between November, 1996 and May, 1997 a series of 100 consecutive unselected patients undergoing all types of thyroid surgery - including even those inducing large dead space e.g. substernal goitre and carcinoma thyroid with recurrent nerve dissection - were randomly allotted to either receive drainage (n = 43) or not (n = 57). Patients with cervical dissection for lymph node metastasis were not included. Severe intra-operative haemorrhage was not a reason for exclusion. No complications such as haematoma or seroma were found in the undrained group whereas only minor complications such as haematoma (n = 4) were noted in the drained group. Whatever the group, none of the patients required re exploration. The difference in overall hospital stay (1.72 days in the group of undrained patients versus 2.09 days in the drained group) was not statistically significant.