The role of intraoperative neuromonitoring in thyroid surgery training

Abstract

Aim: Intraoperative nerve monitoring (IONM) during thyroid surgery has been widely accepted as an additive improvement to the gold standard of visually identifying the RLN. This study aims to evaluate the role of IONM application in thyroid surgery education during general surgery residency. Materials and Methods: Patients who underwent total thyroidectomy between January 2012 and December 2019 were included in the study. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to the use of IONM (Group 1: With IONM, Group 2: Without IONM). These groups were also divided into subgroups as assistants and experts among themselves. Results: This study involved 256 patients. There were 116 patients in group 1, and 140 patients in group 2. Histologic analysis results revealed that IONM was used more frequently in patients with a malignancy (p=0.015). The median operative time was significantly longer when IONM was used, with an operative time of 130 minutes for group 1 and 120 minutes for group 2 (p=0.015). When Group 1B and Group 2B were compared among themselves, the median operation time in Group 1B was 130 minutes, and the median operation time in Group 2B was 125 minutes (p=0.026). In the comparison between Groups 1B and 2B, it was detected that the rate of use of IONM was higher in malignancies (p=0.025). Conclusion: According to our results, the use of IONM did not reduce the incidence of RLN paralysis in thyroidectomy performed by specialists and residents.