The Effect of Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve İdentification During Thyroid Surgery on İncidence of Vocal Fold Paralysis.

Aim: We have investigated effect of recurrent laryngeal nerve identification during thyroid surgery on incidence of nerve paralysis. Material and method: Routine intraoperative dissection and identification of recurrent laryngeal nerve was said to have reduced the nerve paralysis at recent reports in the literatüre. This prospective study was conducted between January 2003 and October 2005. The recurrent laryngeal nerve identification was performed during thyroid surgery and incidence of nerve paralysis was recorded in 36 patients. Results: For 30 patients (83.3%) the surgical procedure was bilateral subtotal lobectomy, for 4 patients (11.1%) the surgical procedure was unilateral total lobectomy + isthmusectomy and for 2 patients (5.6%) the surgical procedure was near-total thyroidectomy. There was no permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis. The temporary recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis rate was 1.42 percent. Conclusion: The identification of recurrent laryngeal nerve reduced the rate of postoperative recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis.