Objective： To discuss the feasibility of total thyroidectomy (TT) for hyperthyroidism.
Methods：The clinical data of 31 hyperthyroidism patients treated with total thyroidectomy  from January 2001 to June 2010 were analyzed retrospectively, and compared with 56 patients treated with subtotal thyroidectomy (ST).
Results：There was no postoperative bleeding or recurrence occurred in TT group, but in ST group, postoperative bleeding occurred in 3.6%, and the postoperative recurrence rate was 26.8%, both were was significantly higher than that in TT group (P＜0.05, P＜0.01). On the contrary,  only 27 cases (48.2%) suffered from temporary hypothyroidism in ST group, which was significantly less than the TT group in which all cases had hypothroidism. There was no case of permanent hypoparathyroidism in the two groups, and no significant difference in the incidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve between the groups (P>0.05).  
Conclusions：Total thyroidectomy is superior to subtotal thyroidectomy for hyperthyroidism, with the advantages of less recurrence and less postoperative complications.