Postoperative hypocalcemia--the difference a definition makes.

Abstract

Review of the literature reveals considerable variability in the definitions and criteria used for reporting postoperative hypocalcemia. The lack of standardization prevents a meaningful comparison of results and performance locally with the national standard. It also prevents the pooling of data when performing meta-analysis, and may affect the comparison of research results. A literature review was performed to identify the different definitions used to define hypocalcemia in post-thyroidectomy patients. We analyzed the incidence of hypocalcemia in the same cohort of 202 post thyroidectomy patients using these definitions. The reported hypocalcemia rates varied from 0% to 46% for the same cohort depending on the definition of hypocalcemia used. Only one-third of biochemically hypocalcemic patients requested calcium supplementation. This study demonstrates the need for more uniformity and standardization in the definitions used for reporting hypocalcemia rates.