1992 Volume 85 Issue 6 Pages 993-1001
A new method of dynamic reconstruction by suturing the cricothyroid and the lateral cricoarytenoid muscles was devised for the treatment of hoarseness due to unilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis.
Eighteen adult dogs underwent this method after sectioning of a recurrent laryngeal nerve.
Immediate postoperative observation during phonation revealed tension and movement of the affected vocal cord, which was adducted to reach the midline in 17 of 18 dogs. Over four months later, fiberscopic inspection revealed that adequate adduction was still present, and electrophysiological and histological examination showed that the affected lateral cricoarytenoid muscle was reinnervated by the external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve.
Since this method is simple, and remobilization and tension during phonation are prompt and persistant, the clinical application of this method may serve as a new dynamic reconstruction for unilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis.
