Surgical Treatment of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis – Pros and Cons from the Perspective of Clinical Results

Patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis have hypothyroidism, goiter, and extrathyroidal lesions. Substitution therapy with thyroxine drugs in some cases is not effective. The work studies the feasibility of using surgical treatment – removal of the active site of autoimmune aggression. To study the effect of thyroidectomy on the quality of life of patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis with extrathyroidal manifestations. Sixty-one patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis were examined. Among them 29 patients were treated with drugs (control group) and 32 with surgery (main group). The quality of life was studied using the SF-36 questionnaire. TSH levels within euthyroidism were controlled and the level of antibodies to thyroperoxidase was determined. Two years after the surgical treatment, the studied quality of life indicators was improved significantly. The growth in individual indicators ranged from 34 (role-functioning, conditioned by emotional state) to 57 % (vital activity), and the overall health indicator increased by 52 %. The level of antibodies to peroxidase decreased almost to the norm. In the group of patients receiving drug treatment, overall quality of life indicators did not change significantly, but there was a tendency to worsen. The level of antibodies to peroxidase remained at high rates without significant changes. Surgical treatment of patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis improves the quality of life. The level of antibodies to thyroperoxidase after thyroidectomy is reduced to almost physiologically significant indicators.