title: A "pilot light" of the right non-recurrent laryngeal nerve.
abstract: Total thyroidectomy was performed in a 53-year-old male, with Graves-Basedow's disease. At surgery, the vagus nerve was found to be located medially to the carotid artery associated with a non-recurrent laryngeal nerve arising directly from the cervical vagus: this association has never been described in the literature. These results indicate that a medial location of the vagus nerve may be considered as a "pilot light" of the non-recurrent laryngeal nerve.
authors.affiliation: Surgical Pathology, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Padua, Italy. toniato@unipd.it
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toniato
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Merante Boschin
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pagetta
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Casalide
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pelizzo
mesh_terms: D000015:Abnormalities, Multiple / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012009:Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve / Q000002:abnormalities*; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000002:abnormalities*