Outcome of anesthesia and surgery in hypothyroid patients.

We retrospectively examined the outcome of anesthesia and surgery in 59 hypothyroid patients and in 59 paired euthyroid matched controls. Hypothyroid patients had more preoperative risk factors but did not differ as a group from controls with regard to duration of surgery or anesthesia, lowest temperature and BP recorded during surgery, need for vasopressors, time to extubation, fluid and electrolyte imbalances, incidence of arrhythmias, pulmonary and myocardial infarction, sepsis, need for postoperative respiratory assistance, bleeding complications, or time to hospital dismissal. Analysis of subsets of hypothyroidism (thyroxine level, less than 1.0, less than 3.0, and greater than or equal to 3.0 micrograms/dL) also failed to disclose any significant differences compared with matched controls. Among patients with mild or moderate hypothyroidism, we found no evidence to justify deferring needed surgery until the hypothyroidism has been corrected.