2006 Volume 32 Issue 3 Pages 360-363
In head and neck cancers, it is sometimes necessary to remove the recurrent laryngeal nerve with the cancer. Recently, in thyroid cancer, reconstruction of the recurrent laryngeal nerve has been generally performed in consideration of the patient's quality of life. In this study, we examined 5 cases receiving recurrent laryngeal nerve reconstruction after removal of the tumor with mediastinal dissection. All patients showed an acceptable recovery postoperatively without aspiration or pneumonia. From the aspect of postoperative recovery and life expectancy, reconstruction of the recurrent laryngeal nerve is important in serious cases with mediastinal dissection.
