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Updated: Jul 3, 2026

Identification and Protection of the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve during Transoral Robotic Thyroidectomy
Published on: October 24, 2025
Anomalous intrathoracic left vagus and recurrent laryngeal nerve course
Domenico Galetta1, Alfredo Cesario, Stefano Margaritora
1Division of Thoracic Surgery, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy. mimgaletta@yahoo.com
Abstract:
An anomalous course of the vagus nerve is an extremely rare congenital anomaly. We report the case of a 59-year-old man who had left lung cancer. We performed a left upper lobectomy and mediastinal lymphadenectomy, paying attention to the pathway of the left vagus nerve, which had an anomalous course passing anteriorly to the left pulmonary trunk between the apical and anterior branches. The left recurrent laryngeal nerve hooked around the lower border of the apical branch of the left pulmonary artery.
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