A Prospective Study of Electromyographic Amplitude Changes During Intraoperative Neural Monitoring for Open Thyroidectomy.

Background: Intraoperative nerve monitoring (IONM) of the vagus and recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) enables prediction of postoperative nerve function. The underlying mechanism for loss of signal (LOS) in a visually intact nerve is poorly understood. The correlation of intraoperative electromyographic amplitude changes (EMG) with surgical manoeuvres could help identify mechanisms of LOS during conventional thyroidectomy.

Randomized trial of low versus high carbon dioxide insufflation pressures in posterior retroperitoneoscopic adrenalectomy.

Background: Posterior retroperitoneoscopic adrenalectomy has gained widespread acceptance for the removal of benign adrenal tumors. Higher insufflation pressures using carbon dioxide (CO) are required, although the ideal starting pressure is unclear. This prospective, randomized, single-blinded, study aims to compare physiologic differences with 2 different CO insufflation pressures during posterior retroperitoneoscopic adrenalectomy.