Lessons from animal studies on recurrent laryngeal nerve monitoring

Recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury is a significant morbidity associated with thyroid surgery. Surgeons have increasingly used intraoperative neural monitoring (IONM) as an adjunct technique for identifying the RLNand predicting the outcome of vocal cord function. Many animal studies have investigated limits, adjournments and new applications of IONM. The advent of animal studies has substantially improved understanding of IONM technology and the electrophysiology of RLN. Lessons learned from animal studies have clinical applications in establishing proper strategies for preventing nerve injury.