Possibility of Respiratory Abduction of the Vocal Cord By Functional Surgery of the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve

Abstract

Reinnervation of the larynx by end to end anastomosis of the recurrent laryngeal nerve is a method to expect functional recovery of the vocal cord, abduction during inspiration and adduction during phonation or reflex protection mechanism.Abduction of the vocal cord by reinnervated posterior cricoarytenoid muscle is practically impossible because the adductor muscles contract at the same phase as a counterforce to abduction. which is originated from misdirection of respiratory nerve fibers into the adductors.The auther studied on the operative method to cut the adductor branches of the recurrent laryngeal nerve selectively in the larynx. Utilizing this technique, primarily or secondarily, on some dogs whose recurrent laryngeal nerve had been cut in the neck and simplly anastomosed or transplanted with free autogenous nerve graft taken from the sternothyroid nerve, remarkable abduction was observed especially during dyspneic or hyperpneic respirations.