Nonrecurrent inferior laryngeal nerve in patients with esophageal cancer: report of two cases

The preservation of the recurrent laryngeal nerve is a fundamental skill in cervical procedure such as thyroid, parathyroid or esophagus surgery. Any damage to this nerve could lead to permanent ipsilateral vocal cord paralysis. Therefore this iatrogenic complication must be absolutely avoided by surgeons. However, surgeons rarely encounter the nonrecurrent inferior laryngeal nerve. The aim of this report is to describe this nerve anomaly and its causes based on our recent experience obtained during two esophageal operations.