Intraoperative recurrent laryngeal nerve monitoring in unconventional thyroid surgery

Abstract

Estimated incidence of thyroid cancer according to GLOBOCAN 2020 is 586,202 new cases in overall population. 1 In Italy, over 34,000 thyroid operations were performed during 2016, 2,3 and in the United States, 150,000 thyroidectomies per year are estimated. 4 A critical point of thyroid surgery is the potential recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury, which can result in either unilateral or bilateral, temporary or permanent vocal cord paresis or paralysis. The British Association of Endocrine and Thyroid Surgeons reported the postsurgical injury rate at 1.8%, and current rates in tertiary care centers have been reported as low as 0%-1.1%, 5 but these data are definitively underestimated.