Does intraoperative nerve monitoring reliably aid in staging of total thyroidectomies?

Objectives/hypothesis: Demonstrate whether intraoperative nerve monitoring is an effective tool in staging bilateral thyroid and neck surgeries in cases of intraoperative injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve on the side of initial dissection. We hypothesized that IONM provides reliable and appropriate feedback on the functional status of the RLN on side of initial dissection during total thyroidectomy and central neck surgery.

Study Design: Case series with planned data collection.