Artificial neural network to predict post-operative hypocalcemia following total thyroidectomy

The primary objective of this study was to use artificial neural network (ANN) to predict the post operative hypocalcemia and severity of hypocalcemia following total thyroidectomy. The secondary objective was to determine the weightage for the factors predicting the hypocalcemia with the ANN. A single center, retrospective case series included treatment-naive patients undergoing total thyroidectomy for benign or malignant thyroid nodules from January 2020 to December 2022. Artificial neural network (ANN) - Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) used to predict post-operative hypocalcemia in ANN. Multivariate analysis was used construct validity. The data of 196 total thyroidectomy cases was used for training and testing. The mean incorrect prediction during training and testing was 3.18