{"doi":"10.1002/ohn.1162","title":"Communication of Voice‐Related Complications in Thyroidectomy: A Qualitative Analysis","abstract":"OBJECTIVE: This study aims to characterize patient-surgeon discussions of voice-related complications during thyroidectomy for low-risk thyroid cancer. STUDY DESIGN: A qualitative study. SETTING: Three academic medical centers. METHODS: Pre-operative clinic visits between 14 surgeons (6 otolaryngologists and 8 endocrine surgeons) and 49 patients with low-risk (cT1-2, N0) thyroid cancer were audio-recorded and transcribed. Qualitative analysis was used to evaluate surgeon counseling strategies and patient concerns related to voice. RESULTS: Patients aged from 20 to 77 years old were predominantly female (77.6%) and white (89.9%). Surgeons presented risk with negative framing and numerical percentages (1%-4%) and/or qualified the risk as \"low\" or \"small\" for a lobectomy, but a \"much bigger deal\" for bilateral nerve injury in total thyroidectomy. At a minimum, surgeons referred to voice dysfunction as \"voice change.\" Some further described \"hoarseness\" or the \"inability to project voice.\" Other surgeons imitated what voice dysfunction would sound like. A few surgeons probed the importance of voice to a patient's life. One surgeon imparted that having a voice-related complication \"can be really emotional.\" Patients responded with varying degrees of concern about voice changes after surgery, from feeling \"super concerned … about losing [their] voice\" to feeling \"ok\" with it \"as long as [they're] around to deal with it.\" CONCLUSION: Significant variability exists in how surgeons describe and set expectations about voice-related complications. The degree to which patients value voice-related outcomes differed based on their occupation and hobbies, but this was tempered by their cancer diagnosis. Further research is needed to identify optimal disclosure of voice-related risks and expectations.","journal":"Otolaryngology","year":2025,"id":543161,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.8506,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":482507,"name":"Catherine B. Jensen","orcid":"0000-0002-0883-7513","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":734998,"name":"Elizabeth Bacon","orcid":"0000-0001-9029-8004","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":670771,"name":"Norman D. Hogikyan","orcid":"0000-0003-1783-4338","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":385577,"name":"Benjamin R. Roman","orcid":"0000-0003-0947-538X","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":383650,"name":"Susan C. Pitt","orcid":"0000-0002-6978-3408","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":312040,"name":"Derek D. Kao","orcid":"0000-0002-2981-1355","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":36,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:53:04.088079Z","pmid":"39963871","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}