Clinical Significance
The nerve is best known for its importance in thyroid surgery, as it runs immediately posterior to this gland. If it is damaged during surgery, the patient will have hoarseness. Nerve damage can be assessed by laryngoscopy, during which a stroboscopic light confirms the absence of movement in the affected side of the vocal cords.
Similar problems may also be due to invasion of the nerve by a tumor or after trauma to the neck. A common scenario is paralysis of the left vocal cord due to malignant tumour in the mediastinum affecting the left recurrent laryngeal nerve. The left cord returns to midline where it stays.
- If the damage is unilateral, the patient may present with voice changes including hoarseness.
- Bilateral nerve damage can result in breathing difficulties and aphonia, the inability to speak.
- The right recurrent laryngeal nerve is more susceptible to damage during thyroid surgery due to its relatively medial location.
Read more about this topic: Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve
Famous quotes containing the word significance:
“The hypothesis I wish to advance is that ... the language of morality is in ... grave disorder.... What we possess, if this is true, are the fragments of a conceptual scheme, parts of which now lack those contexts from which their significance derived. We possess indeed simulacra of morality, we continue to use many of the key expressions. But we have—very largely if not entirely—lost our comprehension, both theoretical and practical, of morality.”
—Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (b. 1929)