Cervical plexus reinnervation for recurrent laryngeal nerve injuries / 中华普通外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the clinical therapeutic effects of Ⅰ-stage or delayed Ⅰ-stage cervical plexus reinnervation for recurrent laryngeal nerve(RLN)injuries. Methods During the process of neck dissection of papillary thyroid carcinoma,18 cases with recurrent laryngeal nerve deficit underwent cervical plexus reinnervation on Ⅰ-stage or delayed Ⅰ-stage RLN prosthosis basis.Therapeutic effects were evaluated by fibrolaryngoscope and voice evaluation preoperatively and postoperatively. Results All the cases were followed-up for 3 months to 2 years(average 8 months).Abductory motion of the vocal cords of 16 patients totally or partly restored,and not improved in 2 patients,with the recovery rate of abductory motion of the paralyzed vocal cords of 88.9%(16/18).Patient's phonation was restored totally or partially in 16 cases and the hoarseness was ameliorated significantly. Conclusions Cervical plexus-RLN reinnervation should be considered as a suitable treatment for unilateral vocal cord paralysis.One stage or delayed one stage cervical plexus reinnervation for recurrent laryngeal nerve injury is convenient and easy to perform.Postoperatively the abductory motion of vocal cord could be restored by this reinnervation satisfactorily.