Proposal of New Key Step in Lateral Approach Thyroidectomy in Light of Comparison of Surgical Outcomes of Medial versus Lateral Approach Thyroidectomy: A Randomised Controlled Study

Table 4

Distribution of complications in both approaches.

Complications	Number of patients with medial approach	Number of patient with lateral approach	Improved after
Conversion to strap muscles cutting	3	0	—
External branch of SLN injury	5	0	Steroid administration
Recurrent laryngeal nerve injury (transient + permanent)	3	1	Steroid administration
Parathyroid injury	3	0	—
Seroma or hematoma formation	3	0	—
Swallowing difficulty	1	0	—
Postoperative stridor or respiratory distress	1	1	—
Tetany (clinical and biochemical)	3	0	Calcium supplements (Sr Ca monitoring)
Hypothyroidism (biochemical)	14	20	Thyroxine administration (TSH, T3, T4 monitoring)