Updates in surgery
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Review Multicenter Study
Transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasonography: a reliable, non-invasive and inexpensive preoperative method in the evaluation of vocal cords motility-a prospective multicentric analysis on a large series and a literature review.
Thyroidectomy is a largely performed intervention and its rate has sharply increased. The most feared postoperative complication is the recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis, which is the most frequent cause of medicolegal litigations. Therefore, surgeons have introduced the preoperative evaluation of vocal cords function through laryngoscopy. ⋯ A concordance between transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasonography and laryngoscopy of 95.7% was reported. In 14 patients (3.54%), the investigator reported a hard visualization of vocal cords through ultrasonography. Transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasonography is a valid non-invasive and painless alternative method in the assessment of vocal cords in a selected population; moreover, it could be useful in identifying patients addressable to second-level examination.