Thyroid disease

The diagnostics include various gentle and low-risk procedures:

• Palpation test
• Blood test
• High-resolution sonography (ultrasound)
• Thyroid scintigraphy (imaging procedure in nuclear medicine diagnostics)
• Fine needle aspiration (removal of fluid or cells using a hollow needle) or punch biopsy (tissue sample removal) under ultrasound guidance and local anaesthetic

The assessment of the thyroid findings takes place as part of an outpatient appointment in our thyroid consultation. Not every thyroid disease requires surgery. The need for surgery can now be determined early on in the diagnostic process.

Expert team provides assessment

Abnormalities of the thyroid gland are examined by an interdisciplinary team of experts (ENT, nuclear medicine, endocrinology). These are usually nodules in the normal-sized or enlarged thyroid gland. A so-called "cold nodule" refers to areas that are no longer involved in thyroid hormone production and are potentially malignant. They are further clarified step by step and in a targeted manner.

In addition to the drug therapy approach, surgery may also be necessary depending on the diagnosis. There are many reasons for thyroid or parathyroid surgery:

• Unclear or suspicious (suspected cancer) lumps
• Metabolic disorders (e.g. autonomy, Graves' disease)
• Feeling of pressure, swallowing problems or breathing difficulties due to a severely enlarged thyroid gland (goitre)
• Over-active parathyroid gland (hyperparathyroidism / parathyroid adenoma)

Before surgery

Before the surgery, the thyroid gland and the lymph nodes of the neck are examined using the latest high-resolution ultrasound equipment. This essential part of the diagnostics is carried out personally by our surgeons. This allows precise surgical planning and a customised procedure during the surgery. The ENT clinic specialises in the surgical removal of benign or malignant cervical lymph nodes.

Before and after the surgery, we assess the vocal cord findings during the inpatient stay at the ENT clinic.

• We avoid large wounds, subsequent scarring and pain after the surgery thanks to a gentle minimally invasive approach of up to 2 cm (OMIT: Open Minimum Incision Thyroidectomy, MINET: Minimally Invasive Non-Endoscopic Thyroidectomy)
• Best view through magnification of the surgical field using magnifying glasses
• Protection of the neighbouring tissue areas, vocal cord nerves and parathyroid glands with precise micro instruments
• Acoustic and visual monitoring of the upper and lower vocal cord nerves during the surgery using intraoperative neuromonitoring (electromyography)
• Intraoperative frozen section diagnostics: by analysing the removed tissue during the surgery at the Institute of Pathology, the surgical procedure can be performed even more precisely and extended if necessary.
• Possibility of hormone measurement (parathyroid hormone) during the surgery
• Specialised anaesthesia for thyroid patients of all age groups and subsequent monitoring options in adult and paediatric intensive care units