Recurrence paralysis: computed tomographic analysis of intrathoracic findings]

The long and singular course of the inferior (recurrent) laryngeal nerve makes it very vulnerable to infiltration by tumors of various locations. In particular, mediastinal and pulmonary lesions must be considered in the case of left vocal chord palsy. Recurrent nerve paralysis caused by a tumor indicates advanced disease. We retrospectively reviewed the computed tomography (CT) findings in 29 patients with bronchogenic carcinoma or mediastinal tumors and recurrent nerve paralysis with respect to the site, size and extent of the tumor and the lymph node status. The review revealed a marked predominance of left upper lobe tumors with extensive lymph node metastases to the anterior mediastinum and the aortopulmonary window. The extent of mediastinal involvement exceeded the average involvement in a control group of 30 randomly selected patients with bronchogenic carcinoma at the time of presentation. In all patients CT demonstrated tumor tissue which could have caused the paralysis at one or more sites along the anatomical course of the recurrent nerve. In most cases the tumor was located at the aortic arch. The left paratracheal region, right paratracheal region and right pulmonary apex were affected in one case each. We conclude that in patients with cancer, CT is a suitable method for localizing a recurrent nerve lesion.