Thyroid surgery – RLN monitoring

The recurrent laryngeal nerve provides motor innervation to all intrinsic laryngeal muscles except the cricothyroid muscle. Intraoperative monitoring of the recurrent laryngeal nerve during thyroid surgery is possible with the use of an ETT with two electrodes embedded in its side. The recording electrodes are positioned at the level of the vocal cords. Goals of RLN monitoring include identifying the RLN, predicting postoperative RLN function, and avoiding bilateral vocal cord paralysis.