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Background: Upper aerodigestive symptoms (UADS) have been reported by patients who have had thyroidectomies. This study evaluated the long-term prevalence of UADS after thyroidectomy in patients who did and who did not have intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM)., Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of patients with normal vocal fold mobility who had a thyroidectomy. It included patients who did and did not have this surgery with IONM. All patients answered a questionnaire regarding UADS occurring one or more years after thyroidectomy. The questionnaire dealt with UADS relating to voice and swallowing symptoms and sought to quantify their severity. The 208 patients who underwent thyroidectomy without IONM were designated the control group (CG). The 100 patients who underwent thyroidectomy with IONM were designated the neuromonitored group (NMG)., Results: The proportion of patients in the CG who reported UADS was 45%; 25.9% of these patients reported voice symptoms, and 33.6% reported swallowing symptoms. The proportion of patients in the NMG who reported UADS was 39%; 27% of these patients reported voice symptoms, and 22% reported swallowing symptoms. Thus, patients in the CG had more swallowing symptoms and a greater severity of UADS-related symptoms than patients in the NMG., Conclusions: In this study, IONM had a favorable effect in terms of decreasing the prevalence and severity of UADS occurring one year or more after thyroidectomy.

Context and Objective: Intraoperative nerve monitoring has emerged as a valuable tool to facilitate recurrent laryngeal nerve identification during thyroid surgery, thereby avoiding its injury. The aim was to evaluate vocal fold mobility in patients who underwent thyroidectomy with intraoperative nerve monitoring., Design and Setting: Cohort formed by a consecutive series of patients, at a tertiary cancer hospital., Methods: The subjects were patients who underwent thyroidectomy using intraoperative laryngeal nerve monitoring, between November 2003 and January 2006. Descriptive analysis of the results and comparison with a similar group of patients who did not undergo nerve monitoring were performed., Results: A total of 104 patients were studied. Total thyroidectomy was performed on 65 patients. Vocal fold immobility (total or partial) was detected in 12 patients (6.8% of the nerves at risk) at the first postoperative evaluation. Only six (3.4% of the nerves at risk) continued to present vocal fold immobility three months after surgery. Our previous series with 100 similar patients without intraoperative nerve monitoring revealed that 12 patients (7.5%) presented vocal fold immobility at the early examination, and just 5 (3.1%) maintained this immobility three months after surgery, without significant difference between the two series., Conclusion: In this series, the use of intraoperative nerve monitoring did not decrease the rate of vocal fold immobility.