Effects of Intraoperative Neural Tunnel in Protecting Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve: Experiences in Open, Trans Breast, and Transoral Endoscopic Thyroidectomy

Xing Yu; Yujun Li; Chang Liu; Yuancong Jiang; Zhaodi Liu; Qionghua He; Yong Wang; Ping Wang

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.779621

Effects of Intraoperative Neural Tunnel in Protecting Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve: Experiences in Open, Trans Breast, and Transoral Endoscopic Thyroidectomy

Front Oncol. 2022 Feb 23:12:779621. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.779621. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Xing Yu¹, Yujun Li², Chang Liu², Yuancong Jiang², Zhaodi Liu², Qionghua He², Yong Wang¹, Ping Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Thyroid Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
² College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.

Abstract

Background: Energy-based devices (EBDs) increase the risks of thermal nerve injuries. This study aimed to introduce a surgical strategy of intraoperative neural tunnel protecting (INTP) for evaluating the effect in reducing the incidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) damage in open, trans breast, and transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy.

Methods: INTP strategy was introduced: a tunnel was established and protected by endoscopic gauze along the direction of the nerve. A total of 165, 94, and 200 patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) were to use INTP in respectively open, trans breast, and transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy as the INTP group. Additionally, 150, 95, and 225 patients who received the same methods without INTP were enrolled in the control group. Ipsilateral thyroidectomy or total thyroidectomy, and central compartment dissection were performed on the enrolled patients.

Results: Clinicopathologic characteristics, surgical outcomes, and surgical complications were similar between the INTP group and the control group in open, trans breast, and transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy. The incidences of electromyography (EMG) changes in the INTP group were lower as compared to the control group in trans breast endoscopic thyroidectomy (p < 0.05). The incidence of postoperative hoarse in the INTP group was lower as compared to the control group in open and transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy (p < 0.05). Postoperative calcium levels (p < 0.01) were significantly higher, and the white blood cells (p < 0.05) and C-reactive protein levels (p < 0.01) were significantly decreased in the INTP group compared with the control group in transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy.

Conclusions: This was the first instance of the INTP strategy being introduced and was found to be an effective method for protecting the RLN in open, trans breast, and transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy. Additionally, INTP helped protect other important tissues such as the parathyroid glands in transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy as well as in reducing postoperative inflammatory responses.

Keywords: endoscopic thyroidectomy; energy-based devices; inflammatory responses; nerve thermal injury; recurrent laryngeal nerve.