Prevention of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury in thyroid surgery

RLN injury is an important and rather frequent complication of thyroid surgery. Risk factors for nerve palsy should be considered. Deep knowledge of the surgical anatomy of the nerve is required to protect it from injury. Anatomical landmarks and surgical techniques that are helpful for investigation and identification of the RLN are very important. Exploration, visual identification and anatomical dissection of the nerve constitute the gold standard technique to prevent its injury.