Subjective voice assessment after thyroid surgery: a prospective study of 395 patients.

BACKGROUND Total thyroidectomy has become a routine surgical procedure. However, postoperative complications are not rare and can lead to voice disorders. AIM To study voice quality after total thyroidectomy. SETTINGS AND DESIGN Prospective study over a period of 5 years in 395 surgical patients undergoing total thyroidectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS The voice quality of patients was based on systematic preoperative and postoperative laryngeal and voice examination. Voice assessment was performed by means of a voice quality questionnaire and recovery time within 12 months postoperatively. Patients who had inferior laryngeal nerve palsy were excluded from the study. RESULTS Preoperative subjective voice disorders were found in 21% of patients and 49% had voice impairment after surgery. The recovery time was less than 1 month for one-half of the patients with impaired voices and 85% of the patients had recovered their voice after 5 months. At the 1-year postoperative examination, the permanent impaired voice rate was 1.26%. CONCLUSION Voice impairment is common after thyroidectomy but usually transient and less than 20% persist at 6 months. Patients must be informed about the risk of voice impairment after thyroid surgery. An objective voice assessment is desirable to monitor the presence and progress of voice disorders.