After a thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer, a patient develops hoarseness. Her voice is breathy and weak. She does not have any difficulty breathing.
Challenge: Explain.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I put together these medical challenges. The cases are hypothetical and do not necessarily represent actual or typical presentations of medical diseases. Disclaimer is at the bottom of this page.
Blog Archive
Labels
- Announcements (48)
- Emergency Medicine (217)
- Family Medicine (261)
- Internal Medicine (407)
- Neurology and Psychiatry (199)
- Obstetrics and Gynecology (126)
- Other (22)
- Pediatrics (208)
- Surgery (195)
- USMLE "Classic Findings" (25)
Posts
Disclaimer
The content of this site is for educational purposes only. The author of the site does not provide any medical advice and information here should not be construed or used as such. Using this site does not create a physician-patient relationship and is not intended to replace the services of a licensed, trained physician or health professional. No health or medical related decision should be based in whole or in part on anything contained here. Any opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the author nor do they reflect the opinions of any of the author's affiliations. Content on this site may be changed without notice and is not guaranteed to be complete, correct, or up-to-date. Any comments posted to the site can be edited, modified, or removed by the author of this site.
4 comments:
recurrent larygneal nv damage
The recurrent branch of the laryngeal nerve was nicked in the thyroidectomy, affecting the movement of the vocal cords. Breathing is unaffected because the other side has a working recurrent laryngeal nerve.
damange to recurrent laryngeal nerve
haha yes, first year anatomy
-
Complications
This is likely iatrogenic nerve injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve (or the vagus) which innervates all intrinsic muscles except the cricothyroid (external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve).
Source: UpToDate.
Post a Comment