Analysis of related factors of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury in patients underwent radical operation for thyroid carcinoma

Objective To investigate the effective methods of prevention of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury after thyroidectomy. Methods A total of 250 patients with radical resection for thyroid carcinoma were selected, 193 cases underwent the operation for the first time, 57 patients with multiple surgeries. The main reason, injury prevention, and error processing method was analyzed. Results Among the 250 patients with thyroid tumor, the total injury rate of recurrent laryngeal nerve was 5.6% (n=14). The injury caused by the less skilled operation process of due to unclear anatomy occurrence of recurrent laryngeal nerve in 6 cases (2.4%), 2 cases with improper assistant (0.8%), hemorrhage resulting in unclear vision in 4 cases (1.6%), panic bleeding injury in 1 case (0.4%), small incision injury in 1 case (0.4%), the differences were significant(P<0.05). The incidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury was also affected by different surgical methods, and the difference was significant(P<0.05). The rate of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury of total thyroidectomy and conventional lymph dissection was 13%, which was the highest. Conclusions In the radical operation of thyroid tumor, recurrent laryngeal nerve injury is common, the correct choice of surgical approach, the operator's proficiency in the specification and tacit understanding can help to reduce the incidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury. Key words: Thyroid carcinoma radical operation; Recurrent laryngeal nerve injury; Related factors