Total thyroidectomy with intraoperative neural monitoring and near-infrared fluorescence imaging

Purpose: To describe our personal experience during aclassic complete thyroidectomy adopting both intraoperative neural monitoringand near-infrared autofluorescence. Methods: In October 2021, 20 patients underwent totalthyroidectomy for benign and malignant conditions: 13 patients were affected bymultinodular goiter, 2 by Graves’ disease, and 5 by indeterminate lesions (3Tir-3B and 2 Tir-3A). For each patient, intraoperative neural monitoring of therecurrent laryngeal nerve and near-infrared autofluorescence were used. Results: Overall, 76/80 (95.0%) parathyroid glands weredetected: 34/76 (44.7%) were identified by the surgeon during the dissection,while 42/76 (55.3%) were detected by the near-infrared camera before thesurgeon saw them with naked eye. Indocyanine green angiography was adopted inall the patients, and in 2 cases, parathyroid gland autotransplantation wasperformed since 2 parathyroid glands resulted devascularized after dissection.Operative time ranged from 113 to 201 min (mean 156 min). Conclusion: Together with intraoperative neural monitoring,near-infrared autofluorescence is a reliable device in thyroid surgery. Furtherprospective studies are necessary to establish if the adoption ofautofluorescence may result in long-term benefit in terms of calcemia.