title: Zuckerkandl Tubercle: An Important Landmark in Thyroid Surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To find out the frequency of Zuckerkandl Tubercle (ZT) and the position of recurrent laryngeal nerve with reference to ZK.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional observational study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Surgical Ward-3, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi, from June 2010 to August 2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients having goiter, aged between 12 - 60 years were admitted through OPD and operated after informed written consent. After admission, they underwent surgery. ZT and recurrent laryngeal nerve position i.e. whether medial, lateral or posterior to ZT was identified during surgery. Data was collected on pre-designed proforma and analysed on SPSS version 15 for descriptive statistics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of the 84 patients ZT was found in 52 (61.90%) patients. Nineteen patients had grade-I (less than 0.5 cm), 22 (42.3%) had grade-II (0.5 - 1 cm) and 11 (21.1%) had grade-III (more than 1 cm) ZT. During surgery, 33 (63.4%) patients had recurrent laryngeal nerve medial to ZT, 15 (28.8%) patients had lateral and in 4 (7.6%) patients recurrent laryngeal nerve was engraved posteriorly.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Zuckerkandl tubercle was found in about 62% cases; recurrent laryngeal nerve was located pre-dominantly medial to ZT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ward 3, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi.
authors.forename: Zahid
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Mehmood
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ward 3, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi.
authors.forename: Usman
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ward 3, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi.
authors.forename: Iram
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bokhari
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ward 3, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi.
authors.forename: Adeel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ward 3, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi.
authors.forename: Anis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Subhan
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ward 3, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi.
authors.forename: Mehvish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nazeer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D061224:Laryngeal Nerve Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control; D007823:Laryngeal Nerves / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010220:Para-Aortic Bodies / Q000473:pathology*; D010280:Parathyroid Glands / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000473:pathology; D012009:Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve / Q000473:pathology*; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000601:surgery; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult