Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve's Motor Function: Sometimes Motor Fibers May Also Be Located in The Posterior Branch

Descriptive in Vivo Study of Evaluating the Motor Function of Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve's Extralaryngeal Branching Electromyographically.

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT02493881

Enrollment

337

Registered

2015-07-10

Start date

2012-01-31

Completion date

2015-03-31

Last updated

2015-07-10

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Injuries

Keywords

Motor function of the extralaryngeal branches, intraoperative neuromonitoring, recurrent laryngeal nerve

Brief summary

The investigators hypothesized that, sometimes the posterior branch of the recurrent laryngeal nerve may also have motor function. The investigators aimed to evaluate motor function of the branches in the branching recurrent laryngeal nerves in this study.

Detailed description

This study group consisted of consecutive patients, undergoing thyroid and parathyroid surgery with IONM. Both anterior and posterior branches of the recurrent laryngeal nerves were assessed separately by both electromyography endotracheal tube for adduction and finger palpation for detection of laryngeal twitch due to posterior cricoarytenoid abduction. The recurrent laryngeal nerves having motor function only in the anterior branches were defined as group 1, whereas the nerves having motor function both in the anterior and posterior branches were as group 2.

Interventions

DEVICEintraoperative neuromonitoring

NIM-Response 3.0 Intraoperative Neuromonitoring System (Medtronic Xomed, Jacksonville, FL, USA) was used to record the EMG amplitude signal for the anterior and/or posterior branches of recurrent laryngeal nerves (RLNs).

Study design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

CROSSOVER

Primary purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 80 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. Patients who underwent parathyroid/thyroid surgery with intraoperative neuromonitoring , 2. Patients who had normal vocal cord functions preoperatively. -

Exclusion criteria

1. Preoperative recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, 2. Intentional nerve transection because of cancer invasion, 3. Assessment failure of recurrent laryngeal nerve function due to the deficiency of the intraoperative neuromonitoring equipment,. 4. Parathyroidectomy operations that recurrent laryngeal nerves were not fully dissected. \-

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
The evoked EMG potentials of the branches of the recurrent laryngeal nerves as microvolt, by intraoperative neuromonitoring.	intraoperative	The nerves , due to having motor functions whether on their anterior or posterior branches, were divided into two groups. The amplitudes of the anterior and posterior branches within the group 2 were compared.

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
The diameters of the branches of the recurrent laryngeal nerves.	intraoperative	The branch diameters of the recurrent laryngeal nerves were compared between the two groups.
The branching distances of the recurrent laryngeal nerves.	intraoperative	The branching distances of the recurrent laryngeal nerves till the entry point into the larynx, were compared between the two groups.

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026