Voice and swallowing changes after thyroidectomy in patients without inferior laryngeal nerve injuries.
BACKGROUND
We performed a prospective analysis on voice and swallowing alterations following total thyroidectomy (TT), in the absence of recurrent nerve injury.


METHODS
Patients aged 21 to 65 years undergoing TT, in the absence of laryngeal/pulmonary disease, previous neck surgery, or malignant diseases, were subjected to videostrobolaryngoscopy (VSL), acoustic voice analysis (AVA), and maximum phonation time (MPT) tests preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively. Voice impairment scores (VIS) and swallowing impairment scores (SIS) were obtained preoperatively, and at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months postoperatively.


RESULTS
Among the 127 selected patients, 39 completed the postoperative evaluation. No recurrent nerve injury was observed during the postoperative VSL in any of the patients. Preoperative and postoperative AVA and MPT scores did not differ significantly. The mean postoperative VIS was significantly higher than the preoperative VIS at 1 week and 1 month after TT (13.7 and 9.6 vs 4.4, respectively; P < .05) but not 3 months after TT (6.7). The mean SIS was higher than the preoperative SIS at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after TT (10.3, 6.0, and 2.8 vs 0.5, respectively; P < .05).


CONCLUSIONS
Physicians should inform patients that transient voice and swallowing symptoms may occur following total thyroidectomy, and our data suggest mild symptoms may occur in the majority of operated patients.
Lombardi
Celestino Pio
CP
Division of Endocrine Surgery, Department of Surgery, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
Raffaelli
Marco
M
D'Alatri
Lucia
L
Marchese
Maria Raffaella
MR
Rigante
Mario
M
Paludetti
Gaetano
G
Bellantone
Rocco
R
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D061224:Laryngeal Nerve Injuries; D007823:Laryngeal Nerves / Q000503:physiopathology; D007828:Laryngoscopy; D008875:Middle Aged; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D014741:Video Recording; D014832:Voice Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D014833:Voice Quality