Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the incidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury in patients undergoing thyroidectomy and identify the factors influencing recurrent laryngeal nerve injury in patients undergoing thyroidectomy. Material and Methods: This was a hospital based prospective study conducted among 50 patients who underwent thyroid surgery at the PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, from November 2018 to August 2020, after obtaining clearance from institutional ethics committee and written informed consent from the study participants. Results: The chi-square test showed that there was a significant association with respect to histopathology and palsy and between clinical diagnosis and palsy; it was also found that there was a significant association between identification of nerve and palsy. The independent ‘t’ test results proved that there was a significant difference in mean of haemorrhage with respect to the palsy. The chi-square test showed that there was a significant association between experience of surgeon and palsy and it also proved that there was a significant association between histopathology and paresis. Conclusion: Disease factors including solitary/multinodular goiter, malignancy etc., technical factors like blood loss, nerve identification, surgeons experience etc., and the factors like non-identification of nerves during surgery, significant blood loss, malignancy, Graves’ disease, multinodular /diffuse goiter and experience of surgeons (< 5 years) found during the study were the most important factors that influenced the incidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury. The importance of identification of nerves during surgery, meticulous technique and surgical experience as the most important factors in preventing injury to recurrent laryngeal nerves during thyroid surgery.

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