A 33-year-old woman was diagnosed with right recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) schwannoma. She presented with a long history of hoarseness, and only recently developed dysphagia. On physical examination, a mass was observed over the right cervical level IV. Endoscopic examination of the larynx showed that she had right unilateral vocal cord palsy. She successfully underwent transcervical resection of the tumour followed by injection laryngoplasty. This study discusses the presentation of the tumour, radiological findings, our working diagnosis and treatment options of RLN schwannoma.
Recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury is one of the main complications of total thyroidectomy. If the injury is bilateral, total airway obstruction, aphonia and hoarseness of voice could be precipitated. Hence, it is wise for the operating surgeon to be guided by neural monitoring during thyroidectomy. We present a valuable experience handling a middle-aged man with a huge papillary thyroid carcinoma . He needed an urgent thyroidectomy due to obstructive symptoms. We highlight our intraoperative dexterity in handling his surgery in the context of continuous monitoring of RLN using electromyography.
Hoarseness due to left recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis was first described in 1897 by Norbert Ortner. Various cardiopulmonary and thoracic arch aorta pathologies associated with left recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy have been described over the last 100 years and is also known as cardio-vocal syndrome. We report our experience with seven cases of Ortners syndrome due to thoracic aortic aneurysm with compression of the left recurrent laryngeal nerve and resultant hoarseness.
Bilateral vocal cord palsy is almost always caused by neck surgery, particularly surgery of the thyroid. We report a case of bilateral vocal cord palsy requiring emergency surgery to relieve the airway obstruction as the sole presentation of acquired syphilis. As the incidence of syphilis worldwide is rising, this unusual presentation may give clinicians a different perspective on the disease.
Thyroid enlargement is one of the common surgical presentations in the Department of Surgery, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM). Among them, benign non-toxic multinodular goiter constitutes one third (30%) of patients who underwent thyroidectomy. Common complications of thyroidectomy include recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury, hypocalcaemia, and recurrence of the thyroid lesion. Objective & Methods: This is a retrospective study of patients diagnosed with multinodular goiter treated in HUSM between January 1996 and December 2005. A total of 111 patients were studied and 52 of them underwent subtotal thyroidectomy while 59 underwent total thyroidectomy. The outcome in terms of RLN injury, hypocalcaemia and mass recurrence were analyzed. Results: Post operative complications were studied in both groups. Permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve injury occurs in 2.4% (1 case) in subtotal thyroidectomy group compared to total thyroidectomy group (3.6%, 2 cases). Five cases from total thyroidectomy group suffered from permanent hypocalcaemia but none in the other group. 70.7% (29 cases) from subtotal thyroidectomy group have functional remnant of thyroid tissue. Recurrence rate post subtotal thyroidectomy after 5 years is only 4.9% (2 cases). Conclusion: The post operative outcome in patients who underwent subtotal thyroidectomy in HUSM from January 1996 to
December 2005 was better than total thyroidectomy with significant functional thyroid remnant.