Place and value of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) palpatory method in preventing RLN palsy during thyroid surgery.

Background: In recent years, certain publications have appeared confirming that intraoperative palpation of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) is a very reliable method.

Method: The characteristics of the surgical anatomy of 1023 RLN have been summarized on the basis of intraoperative palpability, running down, branching variations, thickness, and laryngeal entry site.

Results: Palpation was helpful in 81.4% (833/1023), proved false positive in 8.2% (84/1023), and in 10.4% (106/1023) it was of no help in the exact localization. Definitive RLN palsy was experienced in 0.78% of all cases (8/1023), while transient paresis was encountered in 1.2% (12/1023). Only a moderately strong stochastic correlation could be found between RLN palsies and those nerves which were nonpalpable and atypical, which showed the joint occurrence of being both thinner than normal and branching already before the plane of the inferior thyroid artery (Cramer's associate coefficient, C = 0.383).

Conclusion: Palpation alone cannot substitute visualization and proper surgical dissection of the nerve.