Intraoperative neuromonitoring in thyroidectomy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 10,260 patients
Claurio Roncuni, Guilherme Watte, Claudio Galeano Zettler
Abstract
The recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) is responsible for vocal cord (VC) movements. Injury of the RLN can be a severe complication of thyroidectomy. Intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) has been used to confirm RLN function integrity and facilitate nerve dissection. This study aims to compare the outcomes of visual identification of the RLN vs. IONM of the RLN in patients undergoing thyroid surgery. PubMed-MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched until 27 April 2021 to include nonrandomized controlled studies that compared both surgical techniques for RLN identification in patients undergoing thyroidectomy, using either IONM or visual identification alone. Permanent and transient VC paralysis rates by group were extracted from each article. The odds ratio (OR) of IONM vs. visual identification was obtained from each study to calculate the measurements for transient and permanent VC paralysis by group. Out of 1484 literature studies identified, only seven met our criteria and were included, comprising a total of 10,260 patients. IONM may reduce the incidence of transient and permanent VC paralysis in thyroidectomy.
Keywords
References
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Submitted date:
05/15/2023
Accepted date:
09/12/2023
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