A Voice Acoustic Analysis of Thyroid Adenoma Patients After a Unilateral Thyroid Lobectomy

A systematic review and meta‐analysis on acoustic voice parameters after uncomplicated thyroidectomy

“…), 36 full‐length articles were assessed for inclusion. Twenty were excluded, and 16 studies were determined to be eligible for inclusion. Appendix 1 lists these 20 articles and the reason for their exclusion.…”

“…The LTT:TT ratio was 1 to 1.7. Three (18.8%) studies exclusively analyzed TT, whereas two (12.5%) studies only analyzed LTT . Twelve (75.0%) studies performed acoustic voice analysis two or more times in the postoperative period .…”

“…Eleven (68.8%) studies analyzed benign and malignant cases together, whereas three (18.9%) included malignant cases only and one (6.3%) had benign case only . One (6.3%) study did not mention underlying thyroid pathology …”

“…“Voice fatigue” was the most common complaint, and this was followed by “loss of high pitch” and “difficulty of loud voice.” One study found there was a significant relationship between the extent of surgery and voice change whereas another study did not . Nevertheless, these voice complaints tended to improve over time . Changes in voice quality by perceptual rating using the GRBAS (grade of hoarseness, roughness, breathiness, asthenic and strain) scale was reported in several studies .…”

“…Three studies reported separate acoustic voice data for LTT and TT, and three additional studies exclusively analyzed patients who underwent LTT or TT alone . They were pooled for the subgroup analyses.…”