Recurrent laryngeal nerve: Significance of the anterior extralaryngeal branch

Extralaryngeal division of the recurrent laryngeal nerve: A common and asymmetric anatomical variant

“…This rate of bilateral branching is similar to the rate of 8.9%-33.3% that is reported in the literature (12,13,19,22). In our study, if branching was observed in a patient, this branching was unilateral and asymmetric on the right or left at a rate of 58.9%.…”

“…This high value may be related to our use of a thyroid pillow to extend the neck, leading to nerve stretching due to the position. The branchings within 5 mm that were not evaluated as real branchings in the study by Kandil et al (13,14) may have been evaluated as branching due to neck extension in our study. There is no data regarding the position of the patient in other studies.…”

“…Katz (11) reported the rate of extralaryngeal branching as 58% in his study, in which he accepted branches before the 5 mm distance to the NEP. In the past ten years, the branching rate has been reported as 24%-43% in studies in which branchings were accepted if the RLNs were branched 5 mm or more below the NEP (12)(13)(14)21). We determined the branching rate to be 47.8%, with 43.9% on the right and 51.9% on the left, in our study.…”

“…There is no data regarding the position of the patient in other studies. The gender and posture of the body also may affect the length of the nerve (13).…”

“…Nerves with only posterior branches to the esophagus were not considered to be branching nerves. Nerves with two branches that both entered the larynx under the cricopharyngeal muscle were considered to be branching nerves (13,14). It was found that some branching nerves bifurcated again from the anterior or posterior branches after the first bifurcation and entered the larynx as trifurcated nerves.…”