[Thyroid gland surgery in elderly patients (author's transl)].

In our hospital during the last 8 years, 583 operations on the thyroid gland were performed. 95 patients were aged between 61 and 90, and there was an increased risk in more than half of these cases. Our observations show that thyroid gland surgery is relatively harmless with insignificant complications, except for cancer of the thyroid, which has a high lethality.