Abstract
Nineteen cases of bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis were studied. The results were as follows.
1. The most frequent cause of them was due to thyroid surgery, and 9 cases out of 16 patients who received subtotal thyroidectomy and bilateral modified radical neck dissection were required tracheotomy for an adequate airway.
2. The location of paralysed vocal cord in five cases that were obviously injuried during thyroid surgery was midline position and no recovery was observed.
3. In order to allow for the possible spontaneous recovery and to close the tracheotomy, it took about 160 days.
4. Cordectomy was undertaken in one patient for treatment of vocal cord paralysis in adducted position, and no surgical treatment was performed in case of paralysis in abducted position.
