Table 2.

Laboratory and clinical results

	Intervention group	Control group	p value
	(n = 30)	(n = 30)
Calcium absolute (mmol/L)
PreOP	2.3 (±0.1)	2.33 (±0.11)	0.35
POD 1	2.09 (±0.14)	2.05 (±0.11)	0.22
POD 2	2.05 (±0.15)	2.04 (±0.10)	0.72
Calcium absolue reduction (mmol/L)
PreOP to POD 1	0.21 (±0.14)	0.28 (±0.14)	0.07
PreOP to POD 2	0.25 (±0.14)	0.29 (±0.13)	0.31
Parathyroid hormone absolute (ng/L)
PreOP	67.70 (±28.65)	74.12 (±35.79)	0.47
PostOP	28.85 (±17.01)	27.37 (±26.09)	0.36
POD 1	26.72 (±15.72)	24.75 (±17.30)	0.62
Parathyroid hormone absolute reduction (ng/L)
PreOP to PostOP	38.9 (±33.86)	46.8 (±42.37)	0.28
PreOP to POD 1	41.0 (±27.9)	49.4 (±39.83)	0.48
Incidence of hypoparathyroidism
Skin closure	7 (23%)	14 (47%)	0.058
POD 1	6 (20%)	10 (33%)	0.24
Incidence of hypocalcemia
POD 1	7 (23%)	10 (33%)	0.57
POD 2	10 (33%)	10 (33%)	1
Symptomes postOP
Paresthesia	6 (20%)	8 (27%)	0.76
Tetany	0	0
Medication at discharge
None	22 (73%)	20 (67%)	0.84
Calcium	2 (7%)	3 (10%)
Calcium + calcitriol	6 (20%)	7 (23%)
Hospitalization length (days)
	3.2 (±0.52)	3.1 (±0.39)	0.59

Normal distributed calcium values were analyzed using a two-sided T-test. Parathyroid hormone values were analyzed using a Mann-Whitney-U test. Hypoparathyroidism is defined as PTH level < 12 ngl/L. Hypocalcemia defined as calcium level < 2.0 mmol/L. PTH and calcium levels and medication at discharge were analyzed using the Fisher exact test. The Chi-squared test was used to examine the differences between categorical variables. The average hospital stay after thyroidectomy was 3 days before the start of the study