Cost Effectiveness of Routine Laryngoscopy in the Surgical Treatment of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer.

Background: Some surgeons perform flexible fiberoptic laryngoscopy (FFL) in all patients prior to thyroid cancer operations. Given the low likelihood of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) or aerodigestive invasion in clinically low-risk thyroid cancers, the value of routine FFL in this group is controversial. We hypothesized that routine preoperative FFL would not be cost effective in low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC).

Improvement in patient-reported physical and mental health after parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism.

Background: The majority of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) are diagnosed without the classic signs of renal or osseous complications. Vague and subjective symptoms have been attributed to PHPT but have been difficult to measure during the medical encounter. The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) of the National Institutes of Health contains validated measures of physical and mental health that can be administered by the use of computer-adaptive testing (CAT).