A decade of experience of thyroglossal cyst excision

IntroductionWe report our ten-year experience of thyroglossal cyst excision at Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, comparing outcomes, practice and technique. MethodsRetrospective case note analysis was conducted alongside surgical histopathology review for all thyroglossal cyst excisions performed between 2000 and 2010. This yielded 108 patients with histopathology results confirming a thyroglossal cyst. ResultsThe mean patient age was 21 years (range: 1 week – 76 years). Over half the patients (n=59, 55%) were less than 18 years of age. Fifty-five patients (51%) were male and fifty-three (49%) were female. Seventy cases (63%) were operated on by ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeons. The rest were performed by paediatric surgeons (n=35, 32%), maxillofacial surgeons (n=2, 2%) and general surgeons (n=1, 1%). Paediatric surgeons undertook 35 (69%) of the 59 paediatric cases, with ENT surgeons operating on the rest (n=24, 41%). The primary surgeon was a consultant in 59 operations (55%) while in 49 cases (45%...