The impact of surgery on quality of life, esophageal motility, and tracheal anatomy and airflow in patients with benign nodular goiter.

ABSTRACT

Surgery - is it any good for goiter? In patients with goiter the benefits of thyroid surgery have previously rarely been investigated, as only few alternatives existed. However, the increasing evidence of the advantages with non-surgical substitutes with lower costs and preferable risk profiles prompted us to investi-gate the evidence base for thyroid surgery thoroughly. This thesis consists of three published studies investigating the impact of thyroidectomy on 1) changes in disease-specific quality of life, 2) swallowing symptoms and esophageal motility, and 3) tracheal anatomy and airflow, in a cohort of patients with benign nodular goiter.