A Case of Thyroid Cancer with a Non-Recurrent Inferior Laryngeal Nerve

The incidence of the non-recurrent inferior laryngeal nerve is reported to be approximately 1% of the population. The rare nerve condition was exclusively observed on the right side. The reason for laterality is a congenital abnormality of the right subclavian artery. It is important for surgeons to be vigilant for non-recurrent inferior laryngeal nerve before thyroid and parathyroid surgery. The patient was a 34-year-old male suffering from thyroid papillary carcinoma. He underwent right lobe dissection and D2 dissection. During surgery, we noted a non-recurrent inferior laryngeal nerve emanating directly from the right vagus nerve. The patient didn`t complain of post-operative voice change as the non-recurrent laryngeal nerve was preserved. Post-surgically, we checked the pre-operative cervico-thoracic computed tomography scan again and noticed abnormality of right subclavian artery, branching from the descending aorta and passing behind esophagus.