title: Role of immediate recurrent laryngeal nerve reconstruction in surgery for thyroid cancers with fixed vocal cords.
abstract: Quality of voice after immediate recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) reconstruction in thyroid cancers has not been thoroughly studied.
  
  
  
  Thirteen patients with fixed vocal cords (fixed vocal cord group) and 8 patients with intact or impaired mobile vocal cords (mobile vocal cord group) who had immediate RLN reconstruction simultaneously with total thyroidectomy, and patients who had arytenoid adduction and thyroplasty for vocal cord paralysis caused by previous surgery (arytenoid adduction thyroplasty group) were enrolled in this study.
  
  
  
  Preoperative phonation efficiency index was significantly lower (p = .008) in the fixed vocal cord group than in the mobile vocal cord group. One year after surgery, all voice parameters of the patients in the fixed vocal cord group had improved, compared with their preoperative data. The fixed vocal cord group had attained satisfactory voice qualities equivalent to those of the mobile vocal cord group in terms of various voice parameters.
  
  
  
  The present results support the idea that immediate RLN reconstruction at the time of surgery for thyroid cancers may spare the need for subsequent arytenoid adduction thyroplasty even in the patients with preoperatively fixed vocal cords. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 39: 427-431, 2017.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinobu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iwaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Miki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Otsuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Miki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Division of Rehabilitation Medicine Kobe University Hospital, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Emi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wakui
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirotaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shinomiya
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Morimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery Kuma Hospital, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Masuoka
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery Kuma Hospital, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miyauchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
authors.forename: Ken-Ichi
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Nibu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D058753:Laryngoplasty / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D061226:Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014826:Vocal Cord Paralysis / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014833:Voice Quality
keywords: arytenoid adduction; recurrent nerve reconstruction; thyroid cancer; thyroplasty; voice quality