Anatomical and developmental aspects of iatrogenic injury to the right recurrent laryngeal nerve in surgical resections of substernal goiter

This report is part of a larger retrospective observational cohort study of 239 patients surgically treated for substernal goiter in the Gaffrée and Guinle University Hospital, Rio de Janeiro, from 2006 to 2018. From 239 patients, 13 presented with iatrogenic RLN injury, one patient presented bilateral lesion, totalling 15 iatrogenic lesions. Our analysis showed that the R-RLN seems to be anatomically more vulnerable to injury due to the embryological underpinnings addressed in this review, R-RLN = 64.29% (n = 9) and L-RLN = 35.71% (n = 5). Pathological factors like malignancy and size of the mass are relevant issues to be considered. The knowledge of anatomical landmarks and embryological development of the thyroid and associated structures can improve our understanding and teaching of surgical anatomy, thus helping prevent and reduce the number of iatrogenic injuries on right RLNs.PMID:33837650 | DOI:10.1002/ar.24629

Source: Anatomical Record - April 10, 2021 Category: Anatomy Authors: Rossano Kepler Alvim Fiorelli Alfredo Jorge Vasconcelos Duarte Aline de Quadros Teixeira Thiago Scharth Montenegro Pedro Eder Portari Filho Maria Ribeiro Santos Morard Manuel Silva Ascen ção Carlos Alberto Bas ílio Oliveira Pietro Novellino Source Type: research