PURPOSE Recurrent laryngeal nerve damage remains one of the most devastating complications of thyroid surgery. However, nerve identification is not always easy, and a reliable method to locate nerves intraoperatively is needed. METHODS Thirty consecutive patients were anesthetized for elective thyroid surgery using a standard technique. Indications for surgery covered a broad spectrum of cond...

Thyroid surgeries are the most frequently performed endocrine procedures worldwide. Recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) palsy is one of the common and serious complications after thyroid surgery that can diminish the quality of life.[1] While it is generally accepted that direct visualisation of the nerve is the gold standard, intraoperative nerve monitoring (IONM) is being used increasingly as an ...

In vivo canine experiments have demonstrated that vocal fold stiffness varies proportionately with changing levels of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) and superior laryngeal nerve (SLN) stimulation. This study evaluated the morphologic changes in the glottis at varying levels of nerve stimulation and the presumed effects on laryngeal air particle velocity. Stroboscopic data from the in vivo cani...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To evaluate the long-term efficacy of contralateral ansa cervicalis-to-recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) anastomosis for unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP), when the ansa cervicalis on the side of the paralyzed vocal fold was absent or there was any question about its viability. STUDY DESIGN We retrospectively reviewed 56 consecutive cases of delayed laryngeal reinnerv...

This work is an acoustic investigation on some spectral and temporal characteristics of the speech of patients with recurrent paralyses, and also of patients without diagnosed paralyses but with alteration of their voice after thyroid surgery. Speech is evaluated during two tasks: producing sustained vowels and also a sequence of nonsense words. Consequences of surgery on the voice of patients ...

Because of the close anatomical relationships between thyroid gland and laryngeal nerves, sensory-motor impairment of the laryngeal functions is a well known possible complication of thyroid surgery. Laryngeal nerve paralysis can present with various and often associated symptoms like dysphagia, aspiration, voice alteration or dyspnea. Several examination procedures are mandatory to perform a c...

Previous stroboscopic studies of human vocal cord paralysis have been infrequent and have lacked documentation of the site of lesion. In order to study human laryngeal paralysis, the recurrent and superior laryngeal nerves were infiltrated unilaterally with lidocaine hydrochloride in three human volunteers. Vagal paralysis was simulated by combined (superior and recurrent) infiltration in one v...

The recurrent laryngeal nerve: Much ado has been made in recent years by evolutionsts like Richard Dawkins, Jerry Coyne, Neil Shubin, Matt Ridley and many others about the Nervus laryngeus recurrens as a "proof" or at least indisputable evidence of the giraffe's evolution from fish (in a gradualist scenario over millions of links, of course). Markus Rammerstorfer has written a (scientifically d...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Right nonrecurrent inferior laryngeal nerve (NRLN) is an anatomical variant reported with a variable prevalence (0.3%-6%). It is associated with some arterial abnormalities (absence of the brachiocephalic trunk and presence of a right aberrant subclavian lusorian artery) that may be identified by preoperative ultrasonography (pUS). NRLN represents a major morbidity risk fa...