1993 Volume 54 Issue 3 Pages 636-641
The incidence of non-recurrent laryngeal nerve is claimed to be 0.3-0.9%, and this anatomical anomaly is important in thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy.
We encountered a right non-recurrent inferior laryngeal nerve, arising from the cervical trunk of the vagus and passing directly to the larynx in a 65-year-old female patient who underwent total parathyroidectomy.
The anomaly of the recurrent nerve is explained by the process of nerve and blood vessel development from the embryologic branchial arches, and since it is known to be associated with anomalous origin of the right subclavian artery from the aortic arch, it is only observed on the right side. In this case, postoperative IV-DSA confirmed the right subclavian artery arising from near the peripheral site compared to the left subclavian artery.
Recurrent nerve injury is one of the most important complications of thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy, and the neural anatomy must be borne in mind especially at the right side.
