Intraoperative nerve monitoring during parathyroid surgery: The Fort Worth experience.

Abstract

Avoidance of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury during parathyroid surgery is of paramount important. The purpose of this study was to determine if intraoperative nerve monitoring allowed for decreased rates of RLN injury during parathyroid surgery. Between 1997 and 2016, 213 patients undergoing parathyroidectomy were retrospectively analyzed to determine postoperative recurrent nerve injury. Eighty-seven patients did not have intraoperative nerve monitoring, whereas 126 patients did. Based on the number of patients presenting with nerve injury during the postoperative period operated on with and without nerve monitoring, it was found that the difference in the 2 modalities was not statistically significant (P > .05). Routine use of intraoperative nerve monitoring during parathyroid surgery may not yield any additional benefit in preventing injury to the RLN.