PTeye vs Surgeons Eyes in Intraoperative Identification and Functional Preservation of Parathyroid Glands During Thyroid Surgery: A Parallel Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.

The surgeon will use the PTeye as an intraoperative tool to identify whether a suspect tissue is parathyroid or not during the surgery. The surgeon will first take five baseline NIRAF measurements on the thyroid gland (or neck muscle, if thyroid is absent), to establish a reference point for subsequent measurements, using the disposable sterile fiber probe that is connected to the PTeye console, as per device functionality requirements. The subsequent step involves touching the target tissue in the neck with the fiber optic probe, after which the PTeye will indicate to the surgeon whether the tissue is parathyroid or not. Parameters displayed on the PTeye console - Baseline values, Detection Intensity, Parathyroid Detection Ratio - will be recorded for each patient in the study arm. PTeye indicates that a tissue is parathyroid if the 'Parathyroid Detection Ratio' is greater than 1.2. The rest of the surgical procedure will follow the standard protocol.

The surgeons will not use the probe-based near-infrared parathyroid autofluorescence detection system and will proceed with the procedure as usual, relying on their surgical experience to identify parathyroid glands. At the end of the procedure, the thyroid specimen will be evaluated visually to search for inadvertently resected parathyroid glands. If this is the case, these parathyroid glands will be reimplanted in the sternocleidomastoid muscle, following standard protocol.