Recurrent laryngeal nerve

Nerve: Recurrent laryngeal nerve

POSTERIOR VIEW: The tracheobronchial lymph glands (I. and E. Recurrent nerves visible at top.)

Course and distribution of the glossopharyngeal, vagus, and accessory nerves.
Latin	nervus laryngeus recurrens
Gray's	subject #205 912
Innervates	larynx posterior cricoarytenoid lateral cricoarytenoid arytenoid thyroarytenoid
From	vagus nerve
Dorlands/Elsevier	n_05/12566073

The recurrent laryngeal nerve is a branch of the vagus nerve (tenth cranial nerve) that supplies motor function and sensation to the larynx (voice box). It travels within the endoneurial sheath.

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1 Path
2 Clinical significance
3 History
4 Veterinary medicine
5 Additional images

Path

It is referred to as "recurrent" because the branches of the nerve innervate the laryngeal muscles in the neck through a rather circuitous route: they descend down into the thorax before rising up between the trachea and esophagus to reach the neck.

The left branch loops under and around the arch of the aorta (ligamentum arteriosum) before ascending, whereas the right branch loops around the right subclavian artery.

The nerve splits into anterior and posterior rami before supplying muscles in the voice box — it supplies all laryngeal muscles except for the cricothyroid, which is innervated by the external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve.

Clinical significance

The nerve is best known for its importance in thyroid surgery, as it runs immediately posterior to this gland. If it is damaged during surgery, the patient will have a hoarse voice. Nerve damage can be assessed by laryngoscopy, during which a stroboscopic light confirms the absence of movement in the affected side of the vocal cords.

Similar problems may also be due to invasion of the nerve by a tumor or after trauma to the neck.

If the damage is unilateral, the patient may present with voice changes including hoarseness.
Bilateral nerve damage can result in breathing difficulties and aphonia, the inability to speak.
The right recurrent laryngeal nerve is more susceptible to damage during thyroid surgery due to its relatively medial location.

History

Galen is said to have first described the clinical syndrome of recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis.

Veterinary medicine

In Veterinary medicine, 'roars' refers to a deficit in the left recurrent laryngeal nerve causing characteristic stenuous sounds upon inspiration.

It is treatable by specialists in equine medicine.

Additional images

v • d • e Nerves of head and neck: the cranial nerves
I-IV	olfactory • optic • oculomotor (superior branch, inferior branch) • trochlear
V: trigeminal	trigeminal ganglion • ophthalmic • maxillary • mandibular
VI: abducens	no significant branches
VII: facial	nervus intermedius • geniculate • inside facial canal (greater petrosal, nerve to the stapedius, chorda tympani) • at exit from stylomastoid foramen (posterior auricular, digastric • stylohyoid) • on face (temporal, zygomatic, buccal, mandibular, cervical)
VIII: vestibulocochlear	cochlear (striae medullares, lateral lemniscus) • vestibular (Scarpa's ganglion)
IX: glossopharyngeal	nucleus ambiguus • ganglia (superior, petrous) • tympanic (tympanic plexus, lesser petrosal) • carotid sinus • pharyngeal branches • pharyngeal plexus
X: vagus	ganglia (jugular, nodose) • in the jugular fossa (meningeal branch, auricular branch) • in the neck (pharyngeal branch, superior laryngeal ext and int, recurrent laryngeal, superior cervical cardiac) • in the thorax (inferior cardiac, pulmonary branches, anterior vagal trunk, posterior vagal trunk) • in the abdomen (celiac branches - renal branches - hepatic branches of anterior vagal trunk - anterior gastric branches of anterior vagal trunk - posterior gastric branches of posterior vagal trunk)
XI-XII	accessory • hypoglossal

Category: Peripheral nervous system

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Recurrent_laryngeal_nerve". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.