Thyroid Surgery

While most thyroid nodules are not cancerous and do not require surgery, the small percentage of those that are discovered to be malignant are usually very treatable when found at an early stage. Moreover, some benign nodules also need to be treated with surgery when they become too large or symptomatic. Types of thyroid surgery include total thyroidectomy (removal of the entirety of the thyroid gland), subtotal thyroidectomy (removal of most but not all of the thyroid tissue), lobectomy (where half the gland is removed) and excisional biopsy (where a very small part of the gland is removed for testing). All thyroid surgeries take place in a hospital setting. A total thyroidectomy can take two or more hours to perform and requires a one or two day hospital stay.