You can rest assured that doctors at Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation have the expertise and experience you can rely on through your thyroid surgery. We’ve established a high-volume thyroid surgery center, with 10 percent of our patients seeing us for treatment for thyroid cancer, as well as other thyroid conditions.
Thyroid Surgery
Your thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped gland located in your neck that helps regulate your body’s metabolism. Problems with your thyroid gland can be caused by cancerous or non-cancerous growths on the gland itself, over activity or swelling. Depending on your condition, you might not have any symptoms at all or a host of symptoms, including fatigue, irritability, weight loss and problems sleeping.
If surgery is necessary, your doctor may opt to remove part of your thyroid, or your entire thyroid. Before your surgery, your doctor will likely do an ultrasound, CT scan or other imaging tests to learn more about how your thyroid is doing. She may also take a sample to test for cancerous cells.
During surgery, your doctor will remove part or all of your thyroid through an incision in your neck. The surgery usually takes four hours of less, and hospital stays are typically short. Your doctor will test your thyroid levels after surgery. Depending on how much of your thyroid gland is taken out, you may or may not need to take thyroid medication.
Parathyroid Surgery
Your parathyroid glands help control the calcium levels in your blood. Problems with your parathyroid hormones are often caused by non-cancerous growths on your parathyroid glands. These growths can cause high levels of calcium in your blood and urine and weakening in your bones. Your doctor may catch a parathyroid condition through regular blood tests before you start having symptoms, but symptoms can include kidney stones, osteoporosis, fatigue, frequent urination, nausea and loss of appetite.
Your four parathyroid glands are very small and located behind your thyroid gland. To determine exactly where your parathyroid glands are, your doctor may take an ultrasound or a CT scan of your neck.
If one or more of your parathyroid glands are causing health problems, your doctor may advise removing the diseased glands through surgery. Surgery can be done through one or more small incisions in your neck, depending on where your diseased glands are. Hospital stays for this type of surgery are short, and people usually recover within one to three weeks. Your doctor may recommend routine tests after your surgery to keep an eye on your calcium levels. In some instances, more surgery is needed to remove other diseased glands.