Five head and neck cancer cases receiving recurrent laryngeal nerve reconstruction after surgical treatment with mediastinal dissection

In head and neck cancers, it is sometimes necessary to remove the recurrent laryngeal nerve with the cancer. Recently, in thyroid cancer, reconstruction of the recurrent laryngeal nerve has been generally performed in consideration of the patient's quality of life. In this study, we examined 5 cases receiving recurrent laryngeal nerve reconstruction after removal of the tumor with mediastinal dissection. All patients showed an acceptable recovery postoperatively without aspiration or pneumonia. From the aspect of postoperative recovery and life expectancy, reconstruction of the recurrent laryngeal nerve is important in serious cases with mediastinal dissection.