[Autogenous vein graft as a conduit for repairing the laryngeal nerve deficit]

Management of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) deficit is a difficult problem and a challenge to surgeons. Effective method for repairing a RLN deficit is not available. Since October 1981, the author has adopted autogenous vein graft as a conduit to repair RLN deficit in 5 cases. All the 5 cases were followed up for more than one year after operation. The results showed that the affected vocal cord movement was entirely or nearly entirely restored in 2 cases, partially restored in 1 case, unrestored in 2 cases, patients phonation was restored to be normal or near normal in 4 cases, including 3 cases with entirely or partially restoration of vocal cord movement and one case with unrestoration of vocal cord movement. The remaining one case had vocal cord movement unrestored, the hoarseness, however was improved significantly. The data suggests that autogenous vein graft as a conduit for repairing RLN deficit is a convincible and an effective method.