Each patient was scheduled to have surgery either
as an inpatient or in an ambulatory setting based on
characteristics of the lesion (4 cm and below), the
patient’s fi tness for surgery and postoperative family
support. Exclusion criteria for ambulatory thyroidectomy
included large retrosternal goitres, goitres causing
tracheal obstruction or deviation, patients who were class
three and above on the scale of the American Society of
Anesthesiologists’ Physical Class System (ASA), and
patients who could not meet the general criteria for day
surgery procedures.