Recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis and CT findings in patients with tumor of the thyroid gland.

概要

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Injury of the recurrent laryngeal nerve is one of the most important complications in thyroid surgery. CT images in 54 cases of surgically treated thyroid tumors revealed a close relationship between recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis and the extent of the thyroid tumor into the tracheoesophageal groove in the CT image.When the tumor extends into the tracheoesophageal groove at the level of 0.5 and/or 1.0cm below the cricoid cartilage in CT images, the incidence of either preoperative or postoperative recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis is very high (17 of 19 cases; 90%). When the fat tissue or normal thyroid tissue exists in the tracheoesophageal groove at the same levels in CT images, no recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis occurred in any of the 35 cases.These results point to the importance of the preoperative evaluation of CT images at the above mentioned levels in patients with thyroid tumor to determine the risk of injury of the recurrent laryngeal nerve.
耳鼻咽喉科臨床学会の論文