Table 1.

Recent studies that evaluate the benefits of near-infrared (NIR) imaging in thyroid surgery.

Author	Year	Type	Reduction of Hypoparathyroidism	Reduction in Inadvertent Resection of PG	Number of Patients	Increase in PG Detection	Key Notes
Benmiloud et al. [22]	2019	randomized controlled clinical trial	Yes, from 22 to 9% —PTH (p = 0.007)	Yes, from 12 to 3% (p = 0.006)	241	N/A	NIRAF helped reduce the rates of temporary postoperative hypocalcemia, parathyroid autotransplantation, and inadvertent parathyroid resection
Dip et al. [23]	2019	randomized controlled clinical trial	Yes, from 16.5 to 8.2% —hypocalcemia rates (p < 0.103)	N/A	170	Yes, from 2.6 to 3.5 (p < 0.001)	NIRAF increased and allowed the earlier intraoperative identification of parathyroid glands compared to white light alone
DiMarco et al. [24]	2019	randomized controlled clinical trial	No	No	269	N/A	NIRAF did not minimize inadvertent parathyroidectomy or postsurgical hypocalcemia in this study
Kahramangil et al. [25]	2018	retrospective Institutional review	N/A	N/A	210	Yes	NIFI facilitated PG identification by detecting gland AF, before conventional recognition by the surgeon
Falco et al. [26]	2017	retrospective review	N/A	N/A	74	Yes from 2.5 to 3.7 (p < 0.001)	NIRAF significantly increased the number of PGs identified during thyroid and parathyroid surgery
Benmiloud et al. [27]	2018	before and after controlled study	Yes, from 20.9 to 5.2% —hypocalcemia rates (p < 0.001)	Yes, from 7.2 to 1.1%	513	N/A	NIRAF use during total thyroidectomy significantly reduced postoperative hypocalcemia, improved parathyroid identification, and reduced rates of autotransplantation

NIR: near-infrared; NIRAF: near-infrared autofluorescence; AF, auto fluorescence; NIFI: near-infrared imaging; PTH, parathyroid hormone; PG, parathyroid gland.