The effect of surgically induced recurrent laryngeal nerve palsies on the larynx of the dog and subsequent modification by superior laryngeal nerve section.

Abstract

In fourteen dogs measurements of the width of the rima glottidis were made after cutting the left recurrent laryngeal nerve and after subsequent section of the external ramus of the ipselateral superior laryngeal nerve. Direct measurements using dividers and indirect measurements from a cine-film were compared and showed an increase in the width of the rima glottidis in thirteen of the dogs using one or other method of measurement. However, in three of the dogs one method of measurement failed to show an increase. The rima was widened in one dog after an interval of four months between the two operations. A much smaller series using dogs with bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve palsies was inconclusive. The possibility of applying a similar technique to inactivate the crico-thyroid muscles in recurrent laryngeal nerve palsies in the human is discussed.