Usually the surgery lasts from one to two hours. Thyroid surgery can remove one-half (thyroid lobectomy or hemi-thyroidectomy) or all of the thyroid gland (total thyroidectomy) to establish with certainty whether a goiter or nodule is cancer or not.  Surgery to remove an enlarged thyroid can relieve compression of nearby structures and improve symptoms in patients with related difficulty swallowing, cough, or shortness of breath.  Thyroid surgery can also cure certain forms of thyroid gland overactivity associated with goiter or nodules. 
                                                                                                 
Thyroid surgery almost always requires hospitalization and anesthesia.  The incision causes pain for a day or two after surgery, and it leaves a scar, which is usually relatively inapparent after a year.  As with any operation, bleeding and infection can complicate thyroid surgery.