Laryngeal Nerve Monitoring and Minimally Invasive Thyroid Surgery

nonendoscopic) was used in 137 cases (48.4%) in which general anesthesia was administered. Laryngeal nerve monitoring was performed in 73 (53.3%) of these 137 cases, although the proportion of cases in which it was performed increased significantly from 8.7% (2 of 23 cases) in 2004 to 95.2% (58 of 61 cases) in 2006 (P.001). There were no cases of permanent nerve injury.Theincidenceoftemporaryrecurrentlaryngealnerve paresis was 4.3% (4 of 92 nerves at risk) in the cases in which laryngeal nerve monitoring was used and 6.0% (5 of 84 nerves at risk) in the cases in which the nerve wasvisuallyidentifiedwithoutuseofamonitor.Thisdifference failed to reach statistical significance (P=.73), which may reflect an insufficient sample size. Conclusion: Monitoring of the laryngeal nerves is feasible in minimal-access thyroid surgery and may serve as a meaningful adjunct to the visual identification of nerves.