Evidence for recurrent laryngeal nerve contribution in motor innervation of the human cricopharyngeal muscle.
OBJECTIVE
To study the functional motor nerve supply of the upper esophageal sphincter in humans.


METHODS
Intraoperative electromyographic study.


METHODS
The contribution of the recurrent laryngeal nerve and the pharyngeal plexus in the motor nerve innervation of the cricopharyngeal muscle and the inferior pharyngeal constrictor muscle was examined intraoperatively.


RESULTS
Electromyography showed that there is a considerable overlap in the innervation of the cricopharyngeal muscle and the inferior pharyngeal constrictor muscle. The recurrent laryngeal nerve functionally contributes to the motor innervation of the cricopharyngeal muscle in all patients and contributes to the motor innervation of the inferior pharyngeal constrictor muscle in most patients. The pharyngeal plexus functionally contributes to the motor innervation of the inferior pharyngeal constrictor muscle but does not always contribute to the motor innervation of the cricopharyngeal muscle.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first report which provides evidence that the recurrent laryngeal nerve functionally contributes to the motor innervation of the cricopharyngeal and inferior pharyngeal constrictor muscle. Furthermore, this study shows that intraoperative electromyography in humans is a feasible method to analyze the physiology of the motor innervation of the upper esophageal sphincter.
Brok
H A
HA
Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Copper
M P
MP
Stroeve
R J
RJ
Ongerboer de Visser
B W
BW
Venker-van Haagen
A J
AJ
Schouwenburg
P F
PF
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004576:Electromyography; D004947:Esophagus / Q000294:innervation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000294:innervation*; D010614:Pharynx / Q000294:innervation*; D012009:Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve / Q000502:physiology*