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Abstract
Background and Objectives
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of early neck exercises to reduce post-thyroidectomy symptoms and syndromes for patients undergoing thyroid surgery.
Materials and Methods
One hundred patients who had undergone thyroid surgery were randomly assigned 1:1 to control (delayed exercise, initiating at postoperative 2 weeks) or early exercise group (initiating at postoperative 1 day). Questionnaire survey (voice, globus sense, neck discomfort, swallowing difficulty) and objective measurement (surgical wound adhesion, range of neck motion and scar scale) were performed at 2 weeks and 3 months postoperatively.
Results
Compared to control, early exercise significantly decreased the degree of neck discomfort at 2 weeks after thyroid surgery (p=0.037) while other subjective symptoms including voice change, globus sense, and swallowing difficulty were not significantly different between the two groups. The degree of surgical wound adhesion was significantly decreased (p<0.001) and the range of motion was improved in early exercise group (p=0.010). In addition, the objective scores of Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS) were decreased in early exercise group compared to those of control group (p=0.020).
References
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Fig. 1.
Clinical pathway. LND: lateral neck dissection, MRND: modified radical neck dissection, POD: postoperative day, RLN: recurrent laryngeal nerve, SLN: superior laryngeal nerve.
Fig. 3.
Comparison of subjective indices between control and early exercise groups at post-operative 2 weeks and 3 months. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.
Fig. 4.
Comparison of objective indices including the surgical wound adhesion (A) and the range of neck motion (B) between control and early exercise groups at post-operative 2 weeks and 3 months. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.
Fig. 5.
Comparison of the total VSS scores between control and early exercise groups at post-operative 2 weeks and 3 months. VSS: Vancouver Scar Scale. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.
Table 1.
Items used to assess postoperative symptoms after thyroidectomy
Table 2.
Vancouver Scar Scale
Table 3.
Clinical characteristics of the patients
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