The Reliability of the Tracheoesophageal Groove and the Ligament of Berry as Landmarks for Identifying the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve: A Cadaveric Study and Meta-Analysis
Table 4
Subgroup analysis for relationship of the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve to the Berry Ligament.
Number of studies (number of nerves)
Superficial: % (95% CI)
Piercing: % (95% CI)
Deep: % (95% CI)
: % (95% CI
Overall
16 (2470)
78.2 (51.5–90.8)
7.0 (0–19.6)
14.8 (0–33.0)
99.1 (98.9–99.2)
Cadaveric
9 (965)
77.6 (42.0–97.3)
6.8 (0–26.5)
15.5 (0–40.7)
98.8 (98.5–99.1)
Intraoperative
7 (1505)
76.0 (34.9–100)
7.0 (0–32.3)
17.0 (0–49.4)
99.4 (99.2–99.5)
Africa
2 (183)
83.4 (35.9–100)
7.6 (0–44.2)
8.9 (0–47.0)
97.2 (93.0–98.9)
Asia
4 (1215)
59.8 (0–100)
8.4 (0–56.6)
31.8 (0–89.5)
99.6 (99.5–99.7)
Europe
6 (696)
81.5 (35.0–100)
5.3 (0–34.3)
13.2 (0–50.1)
99.1 (98.9–99.3)
North America
2 (184)
90.7 (54.6–100)
9.0 (0–45.4)
0.3 (0–18.1)
96.3 (89.9–98.6)
Sensitivity (≥ 100 nerves)
9 (2097)
70.7 (32.1–92.4)
9.0 (0–30.1)
20.3 (0–46.7)
99.4 (99.3–99.5)
The value of Cochran’s Q for all analysis was <0.001.
