Phonatory function in patients with well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma following meticulous resection of tumors adhering to the recurrent laryngeal nerve

Background Well-differentiated thyroid carcinomas (WDTCs) sometimes adhere firmly to the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN), while allowing normal mobility of the vocal fold (VF). Meticulous dissection of the adhered tumor from the RLN is known to be effective, preserving VF mobility and oncological safety. However, phonatory function following this preservation procedure has yet to be evaluated sufficiently. The objective of this study was to examine phonatory function following the preservation procedure.