TLUS (Transcutaneus Laryngeal Ultrasonography) as a safe option to evaluate vocal cords in COVID-19 Pandemic era: A Literature Review

Author(s): Erwin Danil Yulian, Alissa Rifa

RLN palsy as a thyroid and parathyroid surgeries complication is usually diagnosed using a direct flexible laryngoscopy (DLF). During this pandemic, doing the DFL has become a major risk to the patient and to the doctor performing the examination as the procedure will allow the virus to aerosolize. Meanwhile, transcutaneous laryngeal ultrasonography (TLUS) has been the go-to procedure to diagnose the vocal cords. A literature searching was performed in the PubMed database in April 2021. 17 full text articles were assessed to review the TLUS modality usage to screen the vocal cords abnormalities in pandemic era. TLUS has a high sensitivity rate in screening abnormalities of the vocal cords. TLUS is considered as a safer option to DFL, thus it is much better fit to use while in pandemic state. When an abnormality is found, it should be confirmed using a DFL.