Comparision of two approaches to expose the recurrent laryngeal nerve during thyroid surgery

Objective: To compare the effects of exposure the recurrent laryngeal nerve between inferior thyroid artery and inferior horn of thyroid cartilage exposure approach.Methods: One hundred and twenty patients treated with the thyroid operation were divided into the inferior thyroid artery explore group(65 cases,99 items) and inferior horn of thyroid cartilage exposure group(55 cases,57 items) according to the different approaches of exposure recurrent laryngeal nerve.The time of looking for recurrent laryngeal nerve(from starting to look for recurrent laryngeal nerve to find it),peroperative bleeding(during the looking for preiod) and incidence of postoperation hoarseness between two groups were compared.Results: The differences of the time of looking for recurrent laryngeal nerve,peroperative bleeding and incidence of postoperation hoarseness between two groups were not statistical significance(P>0.05).Conclusions: Both two approaches are simple and effective means in looking and protecting the recurrent laryngeal nerve.The application of exposure approach should be based on the actual situation.