The recurrent laryngeal nerve was dissected if the sinus tract extended below the level of the
cricothyroid joint. The superior laryngeal nerve was dissected and preserved whenever possible.
Among the topics are speech-language pathology and the professional voice user: an overview, amateur and professional child singers: pedagogy and related issues, psychiatric manifestation of medications prescribed commonly in otolaryngology, cricoarytenoid and
cricothyroid joint injury: evaluation and treatment, and nursing considerations in the care of the professional voice.
It is interesting to note that also the
cricothyroid joint can be affected by RA and lead to vocal cord fatigue without affecting airway function [16].
The superior glands are most commonly located at the level of the cricothyroid joint, approximately 1 cm above the intersection of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) and the inferior thyroid artery in a plane deep to the RLN.
(47) Injury to the laryngeal cartilages, including cricothyroid joint separation, can also occur from aggressive surgical retraction or traumatic intubation.
It then ascends to enter the larynx near the
cricothyroid joint or through the lower horn of the thyroid cartilage, through the inferior constrictor, and into the apex of the piriform sinus (19, 22).
Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) of the neck demonstrated a 3-cm linear, radio-opaque FB in the postcricoid region abutting the left
cricothyroid joint (figure 1).
Hamdan, "
Cricothyroid Joint Abnormalities in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis," Journal of Voice 24, no.
A routine lobectomy is performed with ligation and division of the superior pedicle, identification of the recurrent laryngeal nerve as it passes posterior to the
cricothyroid joint, and division of inferior and medial tracheal attachments, leaving the lobe attached to the contralateral substernal lobe at the isthmus.
It is important to note that the recurrent laryngeal nerve crosses the K-J space as it enters inferolaterally to the
cricothyroid joint, and therefore careful dissection in this area is necessary to avoid nerve injury (figure, B).
In its cervical portion, the nerve runs cranially behind the left lobe of the thyroid gland, under the inferior pharyngeal constrictor muscle, and penetrates into the larynx behind the
cricothyroid joint between the thyroid ala and the cricoid lamina.
These findings suggest either deep thyroarytenoid muscle or
cricothyroid joint involvement.