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OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have established the efficacy of post-thyroidectomy hypocalcemia monitoring using parathyroid hormone (PTH) and corrected calcium levels at 1 and 6 hours. The goal of this study was to measure the impact of managing patients based on the above findings with respect to: duration of hospital stays, rates of transient hypocalcemia, number of blood tests, cost savings, and discharge from the hospital as early as 8 hours post-thyroidectomy without compromising safety.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: This is a prospective study involving 95 total thyroidectomy patients using historical data as controls. The previous protocol was modified in that all blood tests ceased for patients meeting the 6-hour critical level of PTH ≥ 28 ng/L and simultaneous corrected calcium ≥ 2.14 mmol/L (8.56 mg/dL). Furthermore, patients with 1-hour PTH levels ≤ 8 ng/L were prophylactically treated with …