Interval Model for Assessing the Position of the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve at the Site of Surgery Wound During Thyroid Surgery

The problem of assessing the position of the of the recurrent laryngeal nerve is considered in the article. This problem occurs during surgery on the thyroid gland. The basis for solving this problem is a well-known technology that involves stimulation the tissues of the surgical wound by a pulsed current with an root mean square (RMS) of current strength value of up to 2 mA and evaluating the results of stimulation by analyzing the information signal that occurs due to stretching vocal cords. The basis of this technology is the mathematical model (interval model) proposed in the article, which defines the distribution of the parameters of the information signal depending on the point of stimulation on the surgical wound. A method of structural and parametric identification of this interval model which are based on the behavioral model of artificial bee colony is proposed. An interval model has been developed to identify the position of the recurrent laryngeal nerve at the site of surgery wound based on a sample of data for one patient.