Does Preoperative Calcium and Calcitriol Decrease Rates of Post Thyroidectomy Hypocalcemia?
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03869398. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
The investigators are performing this study to determine if supplementation with calcium and calcitriol (vitamin D) before surgery decreases the rate of hypocalcemia (low calcium) after surgery. Postoperative hypocalcemia (low calcium) is the most common complication after thyroidectomy. Symptoms range from numbness/tingling around the mouth and fingers to severe problems such as low blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, muscle cramps and uncontrollable muscle spasms. The current standard of practice at Lahey for patients undergoing total thyroidectomy is to start Tums 1500mg three times daily and Calcitriol 0.25mcg twice daily immediately after surgery. Also current practice is for each patient to have their calcium and albumin levels checked at 8 hours and 24 hours after surgery. If the corrected calcium level drops below 8.5 or they exhibit symptoms of hypocalcemia the dose of the Tums and Calcitriol are increased per protocol. All patients must also follow up in 3-4 days to have their calcium and albumin levels rechecked. The investigators propose to change the above standard practice at Lahey by making only one change. The investigators wish to start Tums and Calcitriol 5 days before surgery, as opposed to after surgery. This will be the only change to the current standard of care at Lahey. The investigators hypothesize that initiating Tums and Calcitriol supplementation in the preoperative period will decrease the overall rate of postoperative hypocalcemia and its related symptoms. This will possibly decrease length of hospital stay, decrease cost, and prevent any serious complications associated with low calcium.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT03869398
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 82 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepts healthy volunteers
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Jul 31, 2017
- Primary completion
- Jun 30, 2019
- Completion
- Jun 30, 2019
- Last update posted
- Jul 8, 2019
2017 – 2019
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lahey Hospital and Medical Center | Burlington | Massachusetts | 01805 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03869398, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Jul 8, 2019 · Synced Sep 5, 2026
Related: full search, browse by condition, browse by drug or therapy, browse by sponsor, browse by U.S. city.
Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT03869398 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.