| dc.description.abstract | The thyroid gland is important and highly vascular endocrine gland, consists of right and left lobes. It is located anterior to the second and third tracheal cartilages. Usually there are two parathyroid glands on each side of the thyroid gland, but the total number varies between two and six. The arteries to the thyroid gland are the palred superior and inferior thyroid artery. The veins from the thyroid gland are the superior thyroid and the middle thyroid and the inferior thyroid arteries. The gland receives its innervation from sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system. The parasympathetic fibers are derived from the vagus and reach the gland via branches of the laryngeal nerves. The thyroid gland's relation to the recurrent laryngeal nerve and to the external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve is of major surgical significance since damage to these nerves leads to a disability of phonation. Damage to this nerve leads to vocal cord paralysis on the same side. It is very important for the surgeon to carefully identify this nerve at the time of operation. Surgeons attempting operations on the thyroid gland must be well Informed on the anatomy of the neck, including the thyroid gland, its blood supply and its nerve supply, as well as its adjacent structures; the trachea, the larynx, the esophagus, and the parathyroid glands. Surgical treatment of the thyroid is performed to establish the diagnosis in a patient with a mass within the thyroid gland, to remove benign and malignant tumors, as therapy for thyrotoxicosis and to alleviate pressure symptoms attributable to the thyroid. The morbidity is about 13 percent when all complications, including those the most minor types, are considered. Four major complications classically have been associated with thyroidectomy. | en_US |
