Patients that require treatment for cancers of the head and neck often require a combination of surgery and/or radiation and chemotherapy. Hypothyroidism is one of the most common complications, and has been associated with post-operative complications such as wound healing problems, fistula formation, and decreased quality of life and survival. Several studies have examined hypothyroidism after radiation to the head and neck, but few have examined this after non-thyroid head and neck surgery. Head and neck resection is theorized to devascularize the thyroid, thus resulting in post-operative hypothyroidism. Synthroid is a synthetic thyroid hormone often used in cases of patients with proven hypothyroidism and after surgical thyroid removal. It's use has been in effect and studied for over fifty years. Treatment algorithms for hypothyroidism are well published. However, treatment of subclinical hypothyroidism (elevated TSH with normal or near-normal T3/T4) is controversial. The rate of subclinical hypothyroidism after non-thyroid head and neck surgery is high (up to 20%), and is associated with post-operative complications as noted above. Therefore the investigators propose a double blinded randomized controlled trial comparing outcomes of patients that develop subclinical hypothyroidism after head and neck surgery, who are given a standardized dose of synthroid treatment versus those treated with placebo. The main outcomes to be examined are post-operative complications (wound healing issues, fistula formation), survival, and quality of life measures.
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Number of patients with a post-operative wound complication
Timeframe: 12 weeks post-operatively