Clinical study of non-recurrent laryngeal nerve in thyroid surgery / 中华内分泌外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Non-recurrent laryngeal nerve (NRLN) is a rare anatomic variation of the recurrent laryngeal nerve, which is often associated with right subclavian artery variation on the right side and more rare on the left side, usually accompanied with visceral inversion. Injury will lead to permanent paralysis of the vocal cord, bilateral nerve injury will even contribute to dyspnea in patients, breathing only with the aid of ventilator, in which case postoperative tracheotomy treatment is needed, leading to obvious influence on the daily life of patients. We reviewed the progress of NRLN in terms of histology and embryology development, anatomical classification, improvement and identification of related preoperative examination, intraoperative nerve identification, exploration and protection, and postoperative injury response, with the aim to provide some reference for improvement of thyroid surgery in clinical diagnosis and treatment.