Abstract
A 18-year-old boy complained of mild hoarseness and misdeglutition after he was hit on the neck by his friend's elbow while they were playing basketball. He was diagnosed as having rt-recurrent nerve palsy at his first visit to a local hospital and treated with steroid. The symptoms remained unchanged, and he was referred to our hospital one month later. On examination, his rt-vocal cord was found to be fixed at the paramedian position and the arytenoid prominence appeared to be dislocated medio-inferiorly. After confirming the diagnosis of dislocation of the rt-cricoarytenoid joint by a 3-D CT examination, we attempted the correction of the dislocation under general anesthesia. Using the LMS approach, we pushed up his rt-arytenoid cartilage using both cotton pads held by a forceps and a balloon cather filled with 10 ml water. Immediately after the operation, the patient's rt-vocal cord became mobile to a normal degree and his voice completely recovered.
