Aim: Reoperative thyroid surgery is not an uncommon operation. It is associated with a higher rate of complication; we prospectively analysed 53 patients who had reoperative surgery for recurrent goiter.

 Method: 60 patients had a thyroid reoperation for recurrentmultinodular goiter (48 patients), recurrent thyrotoxicosis (9) or suspected malignancy (3); bilateral lobectomy (36 patients), unilateral lobectomy (24 patients)

 Results: After unilateral surgery we had only 3 patients of transienthypoparathyroidism (%) and 1 trasient recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy (%),after bilateral surgery wehad 10patients of transient hypoparathyr-oidism (%), 1 of definitive (%), 6 of transient recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy (%),and 1 of postoperative bleeding (%).

Conclusions: Reoperative thyroid surgery is a technical challenge with a high incidence of complications. Scarring of the tissues together with distortion of the landmarks make reoperative surgery difficult. A higher risk of complications is described when previous surgery has been performed on both sides. Total thyroidectomy should be considered the procedure of choice for benign multi nodulargoiter eliminating the potential of a reoperation. Subtotal thyroidectomy should therefore no longer be recommended in the management of multinodulargoitre. When ever necessary, reoperative thyroidectomy may be performed safely with little morbidityin experienced hands.

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Dr S. Zahir Hussain