Does Preoperative Vitamin D Deficiency Delay Recovery Time from Transient Hypocalcemia after Thyroidectomy?

Aim: To investigate the relationship between preoperative vitamin D deficiency and the recovery/healing time from postoperative hypoparathyroidism or hypocalcemia. Material and Method: The sample consisted of patients that underwent thyroidectomy and preoperative 25-hydroxy-vitamin D analysis between 2014 and 2018 at the General Surgery Clinic of Health Sciences University Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital. Of the 1598 patients who underwent total thyroidectomy, 73 were included in the study. These patients were selected from 214 patients who developed postoperative hypocalcemia. The patients’ demographic characteristics, surgical indications, operative findings, postoperative pathology results, preoperative and postoperative biochemical parameters and clinical outcomes were retrospectively obtained from the electronic records. Results: Of the 73 patients included in the study, 10 (13.7%) were male and 63 (86.3%) were female. Preoperative vitamin D level was normal in 16 patients and deficient in 57. The patients were divided into two groups: Group 1 with normal preoperative vitamin-D levels and Group 2 with vitamin D deficiency. There was no statistically significant difference between Groups 1 and 2 in terms of parathormone (months 1, 2 and 3) and calcium levels (p>0.05); however, preoperative vitamin D levels statistically significantly differed between the two groups. Conclusion: Our study suggests that having a normal level of vitamin D or deficiency does not have significant effect on the recovery time from hypocalcemia after thyroidectomy. Therefore, we consider that it is not necessary to measure vitamin D in routine preoperative screening or apply a vitamin D replacement.