World journal of surgery
September 22, 2026 · via Europe PMC
Time Course of Symptom Resolution and Changes in Quality of Life Following Total Thyroidectomy for Graves' Disease: A Prospective Study.
Caliskan O, Mermertas N, Unlu MT, Yener AF, Aygun N, Uludag M.
AI summary — for doctors, generated from the abstract only
After total thyroidectomy for Graves' disease, classic hyperthyroid symptoms resolved within a median of 1 week and neuropsychiatric symptoms within about 4 weeks, with sustained improvement in quality of life.
What was studied
Prospective observational study of 48 consecutive patients undergoing total thyroidectomy for Graves' disease (2025-2026), tracking symptom resolution with Kaplan-Meier analysis and SF-36 quality of life before surgery and at 1 and 6 months.
Key findings
- Most common preoperative symptoms: irritability (72.9%), palpitations (70.8%), heat/cold intolerance (70.8%)
- Palpitations, tremor, heat/cold intolerance, diarrhea, and memory impairment resolved with median 1 week
- Anxiety, depression, ocular symptoms, pain, and irritability resolved with median 4 weeks
- All affected patients had complete resolution of palpitations, tremor, heat/cold intolerance, diarrhea, and pain by 24 weeks
- Significant improvement in all SF-36 domains; specific statistic not fully captured in the abstract
Clinical relevance
This provides a timeline that may help surgeons counsel Graves' patients on expected recovery after thyroidectomy, though the small single-center cohort without a comparison group limits generalizability.
Who should care
Limitations
Small single-center sample, short 6-month follow-up, and no comparison with radioactive iodine or medical therapy.
Patients can be told that most hyperthyroid symptoms clear within a week of thyroidectomy for Graves' disease, with mood symptoms taking about a month.
This is an AI-generated summary of the published abstract, not a clinical recommendation. It may not reflect the full text or subsequent updates — verify against the original source before acting on it.
Abstract
Background
Graves' disease (GD) is associated with substantial impairment in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) owing to a broad spectrum of systemic and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Although total thyroidectomy (TT) is an effective definitive treatment, the temporal pattern of postoperative symptom resolution and recovery of HRQoL has not been well characterized. This study aimed to evaluate the time course of symptom resolution and longitudinal changes in HRQoL following TT for GD.
Methods
In this prospective observational study, 48 consecutive patients who underwent TT for GD between February 2025 and January 2026 were enrolled. All patients completed at least 6 months of postoperative follow-up. Graves' disease-related symptoms were prospectively assessed before surgery and at scheduled postoperative visits using a standardized symptom assessment form. Time to symptom resolution was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. HRQoL was evaluated preoperatively and at 1 and 6 months postoperatively using the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36).
Results
The most common preoperative symptoms were irritability (72.9%), palpitations (70.8%), and heat/cold intolerance (70.8%). Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that palpitations, tremor, heat/cold intolerance, diarrhea, and memory impairment resolved most rapidly, with a median time to resolution of 1 week. Anxiety, depression, ocular symptoms, pain, and irritability resolved more gradually, with a median time to resolution of 4 weeks. By the end of the 24-week follow-up, complete resolution was observed in all affected patients with palpitations, tremor, heat/cold intolerance, diarrhea, and pain. Significant improvements were observed across all SF-36 domains over time (all p < 0.005). Improvements in physical functioning, bodily pain, vitality, role limitations due to physical health, and general health were evident early after surgery and continued through 6 months, whereas social functioning improved significantly only at the sixth postoperative month.
Conclusions
TT was associated with rapid resolution of the classic manifestations of hyperthyroidism and significant, sustained improvements in both physical and psychosocial aspects of HRQoL. Defining the temporal pattern of postoperative recovery may improve patient counseling, optimize expectation management, and support shared decision-making for patients with GD.
DOI
10.1002/wjs.70572
PMID
42768958
Research metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, publication dates) is sourced from Europe PMC, which aggregates content from PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and other providers under the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM/NCBI). NLM does not claim copyright on abstracts; the original journal publishers or authors may hold rights to the full articles. AI-generated summaries are derived only from the abstract, never the full text, and are always labeled as AI-generated.
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