Life Quality Of Patients After Open Thyroidectomy Or Laparoscopic Thyroidectomy

Objective and Bachground:The indications of laparoscopic surgery is getting more and more widely in modern surgery. Ever since Dr. Huscher successfully finished the 1st laparoscopic thyroidolobectomy in 1997, the laparoscopic thyroidectomy developed quickly all around the world. Several Chinese hospitals have started this operation. Our hospital has successfully launched laparoscopic thyroidectomy in 212 cases ever since we started this practice in 2002, and this has taken us to the leading position in China.QOL (quality of life) is an index to assess the general health state of a person. Hence it can also be helpful in evaluating the treatment effects in a more objective and more overall aspect. Author has not found report on the influence of laparoscopic and open thyroidectomy to the QOL of patients. In this study we investigated and analyzed the QOL of 59 cases of thyroidectomy prospectively and dynamically. Through the study of the changes with the QOL of patients after thyroidectomy, we hope to compare the difference between the effects on QOL of patients of OT (open thyroidectomy) and LT (laparoscopic thyroidectomy).Method:The modified GLQI index was used to test the QOL of 31 cases of LT and 28 cases of OT prospectively. The data was acquired before the operations and 2,4,8,12,16 weeks after the operations respectively. Thevalue of GLQI was taken as the index of QOL, and it was expressed in the form of X ?5" . The comparison of QOL index was done with Mann-Whitney U test. The statistical process was finished with SPSS10.0 software.Results:The average GLQI values of LT group and OT group were 114.2 and 115.9 (P>0.05). The values in OT and LT groups 2 weeks after the operations were 107.2 and 109.6, which indicated significant decrease (P<0.05). The values in OT and LT groups 4 weeks after the operations were 116.8 and 118.2, which exceeded the pre-operative levels (P>0.05). The GLOI values significantly exceeded the pre-operative levels in two groups 8 weeks after the operations (P<0.05). During the whole process, there was no significant difference between the GLOI values of the two groups (P>0.05).Conclusion:There was no significant difference between the effects on QOL of OT and LT. However, the LT confirms better cosmetic effects. The psychological state and mood of patients in the laparoscopic group were obviously better than those in the traditional surgery group.