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Updated: Oct 23, 2025

Transoral Endoscopic Thyroidectomy Vestibular Approach for Thyroid Lobectomy
Published on: May 12, 2023
Perioperative transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasonography to assess vocal cord function in thyroid surgery
Do Hyun Kim1, Jaeyoon Lee1, Youngjun Seo1
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea.
Background:
Early diagnosis of vocal cord iatrogenic injury is crucial, as is perioperative vocal cord evaluation.
Methods:
Vocal cord mobility detected via transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasonography was compared with that detected via laryngoscopy (the reference). The vocal cord visualization rate of ultrasonography for evaluation of mobility was explored.
Results:
The diagnostic odds ratio of transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasonography was 303.2212 (95% CI, [86.7944; 1059.3198]). The area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.944. The sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value were 0.9154 [0.8471; 0.9548], 0.9771 [0.9541; 0.9887], and 0.9915 [0.9868; 0.9946], respectively. The vocal cord visualization of ultrasonography used to evaluate vocal cord mobility was high (0.9572 [0.9091; 0.9804]).
Conclusions:
Since transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasonography has the advantage in vocal cord visualization, it can be considered when laryngoscopy is unavailable or patients refuse laryngoscopy. Also, it is diagnostically accurate regardless of the used landmarks, VCP definition, and timing for application.
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