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Right nonrecurrent inferior laryngeal nerve and arteria lusoria: the diagnostic and therapeutic implications of an anatomic anomaly

Nerf laryngé inférieur droit non récurrent et arteria lusoria : les conséquences diagnostiques et thérapeutiques d'une anomalie anatomique -A propos de 17 observations

Review of 17 cases

Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy volume 20, pages 227–232 (1998)Cite this article

Summary

The authors report 17 cases of a right non-recurrent inferior laryngeal n. (NRILN) observed during 15 years of practice of thyroid and parathyroid surgery. In their last two cases, the existence of an aberrant right subclavian a., constantly associated with NRILN, was confirmed by MRI angiography. On the basis of the literature and their own experience, the authors review the incidence of this double anomaly, its embryologic explanation and its anatomic and surgical importance. They stress the diagnostic factors and the therapeutic implications, very different in children and adults, of a particular vascular anomaly whose outcome is little understood.

Résumé

Les auteurs rapportent 17 cas de non recurrence du nerf laryngé inferieur droit, observés en 15 ans de pratique de la chirurgie thyroidienne et parathyroidienne. Dans les deux dernières observations, l'existence d'une artère subclavière droite aberrante — ou arteria lusoria, constamment associée à l'anomalie nerveuse, a pu être confirmée par une angioIRM. S'appuyant sur la revue de la littérature et sur leur expérience personnelle, les auteurs rappellent la fréquence de cette double anomalie, son explication embryologique et son interêt anatomique et chirurgical. Ils insistent sur les circonstances diagnostiques et les conséquences thérapeutiques, très différentes chez l'enfant et chez l'adulte, d'une anomalie notamment vasculaire dont on connait mal les complications évolutives.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d'Anatomie et Service de Chirurgie Générale et Digestive, C.H.U. Reims, France

    C. Avisse, J. F. Delattre, J. P. Cailliez-Tomasi, J. P. Palot & J. B. Flament

  2. Service de Radiologie, C.H.U. Reims, France

    C. Marcus, C. Marcus, V. Ladam-Marcus & B. Menanteau

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  1. C. Avisse
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  2. C. Marcus
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  3. J. F. Delattre
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Avisse, C., Marcus, C., Delattre, J.F. et al. Right nonrecurrent inferior laryngeal nerve and arteria lusoria: the diagnostic and therapeutic implications of an anatomic anomaly. Surg Radiol Anat 20, 227–232 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01628900

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01628900

Key words

  • Non recurrent inferior laryngeal nerve
  • Retroesophageal subclavian artery
  • Thyroid
  • Surgery