Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Laryngeal Complications following Thyroid Surgery: An Update on Bilateral Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Injury

Domenico Testa
* ORCID logo ,
Lucia Del Vecchio
,
Giovanni Motta
,
Giovanni Conzo
,
Vincenza Carandente
,
Giovanni Docimo
,
Giovanni Apuzzo
,
Alessandra Conzo
,
Sergio Motta
,
Ludovico Docimo
Version 1 : Received: 6 August 2023 / Approved: 7 August 2023 / Online: 8 August 2023 (03:38:16 CEST)

How to cite: Testa, D.; Vecchio, L.D.; Motta, G.; Conzo, G.; Carandente, V.; Docimo, G.; Apuzzo, G.; Conzo, A.; Motta, S.; Docimo, L. Laryngeal Complications following Thyroid Surgery: An Update on Bilateral Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Injury. Preprints 2023, 2023080553. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202308.0553.v1 Testa, D.; Vecchio, L.D.; Motta, G.; Conzo, G.; Carandente, V.; Docimo, G.; Apuzzo, G.; Conzo, A.; Motta, S.; Docimo, L. Laryngeal Complications following Thyroid Surgery: An Update on Bilateral Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Injury. Preprints 2023, 2023080553. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202308.0553.v1

Abstract

Bilateral recurrent nerve damage following total thyroidectomy in thyroid surgery represents severe complications. These complications have almost low incidence thanks also by using the Nerve Intraoperative Monitoring. The aim of this observational retrospective study is to evaluate the inception mode and the recovery time for different clinical laryngeal pictures that arise from this surgery. We enrolled 25 patients with bilateral vocal folds mobility deficit between October 2017 and October 2022, diagnosed in ENT Unit of University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, out of a total of 1417 patients undergoing total thyroidectomy. The 25 patients (23F,2M) aged from 24 to 78 years old (average age 51.7) presented a bilateral vocal folds motility deficit (occurring in about 0.1% of cases). All patients underwent 9 months diagnostic/therapeutic process, which started approximately 30 days after thyroid surgery. There are several outcomes of these complications with functional laryngeal defects being mainly related to respiratory and phonatory activities. These clinical manifestations evolve in different ways within a context of a wide range of possibilities, from spontaneous bilateral or monolateral recovery to functional or surgical restoration. This study allowed the acquisition of useful information about prognostic indications and an adequate therapeutic process, based on the specific clinical characteristics.

Keywords

thyroidectomy; bilateral vocal folds paralysis; voice therapy; arytenoidectomy; NIM

Subject

Medicine and Pharmacology, Otolaryngology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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