OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to assess the appearance of the cervical vagus nerve in healthy individuals and to investigate the potential role of sonography in revealing neck masses that cause vagal dysfunction. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. We examined 150 consecutive patients. In 144 patients the presence of thyroid, salivary gland, or lymph node disease was suspected. In three patients a cervical mass was palpable, and three patients had symptoms of dysfunction of the inferior laryngeal or vagal nerves. The pathologic diagnoses of the masses were obtained at biopsy. RESULTS. In 144 individuals the normal vagus nerve was recognized on each side of the neck as a thin band that occupied the posterior angle formed by the common carotid artery and the internal jugular vein. Three patients had tumors arising from the vagus nerve: one neurofibroma, one neurinoma, and one chemodectoma. These tumors were located in the neurovascular bundle and posterior to the vessels; their origin from the vagus nerve was clearly visible in all patients because of the contiguity of the mass with the nerve bundle. In the other three patients, sonography revealed an extrinsic mass that compressed and displaced the vagus nerve out of its longitudinal axis; two cases were hyperplastic nodules of the thyroid, and in one case the nodule was a branchial cyst. CONCLUSION. Sonography can reveal the vagus nerve in healthy conditions and correctly reveal the vagal origin of some tumors in the parapharyngeal spaces.

Sonography of the cervical vagus nerve: Normal appearance and abnormal findings / Giovagnorio, Francesco; Carlo, Martinoli. - In: AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ROENTGENOLOGY. - ISSN 0361-803X. - STAMPA. - 176:3(2001), pp. 745-749. [10.2214/ajr.176.3.1760745]

Sonography of the cervical vagus nerve: Normal appearance and abnormal findings

GIOVAGNORIO, Francesco;
2001

Abstract

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to assess the appearance of the cervical vagus nerve in healthy individuals and to investigate the potential role of sonography in revealing neck masses that cause vagal dysfunction. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. We examined 150 consecutive patients. In 144 patients the presence of thyroid, salivary gland, or lymph node disease was suspected. In three patients a cervical mass was palpable, and three patients had symptoms of dysfunction of the inferior laryngeal or vagal nerves. The pathologic diagnoses of the masses were obtained at biopsy. RESULTS. In 144 individuals the normal vagus nerve was recognized on each side of the neck as a thin band that occupied the posterior angle formed by the common carotid artery and the internal jugular vein. Three patients had tumors arising from the vagus nerve: one neurofibroma, one neurinoma, and one chemodectoma. These tumors were located in the neurovascular bundle and posterior to the vessels; their origin from the vagus nerve was clearly visible in all patients because of the contiguity of the mass with the nerve bundle. In the other three patients, sonography revealed an extrinsic mass that compressed and displaced the vagus nerve out of its longitudinal axis; two cases were hyperplastic nodules of the thyroid, and in one case the nodule was a branchial cyst. CONCLUSION. Sonography can reveal the vagus nerve in healthy conditions and correctly reveal the vagal origin of some tumors in the parapharyngeal spaces.
2001
80 and over; adult; aged; anatomical variation; article; branchiogenic cyst; branchioma; chemodectoma; clinical feature; cranial nerve neoplasms; diagnostic imaging; diagnostic value; echography; emtree medical terms: adolescent; female; human; humans; image analysis; major clinical study; male; middle aged; neck tumor; neurinoma; neurofibroma; priority journal; thyroid neoplasms; thyroid nodule; tumor biopsy; tumor localization; vagus nerve; vagus nerve diseases; vagus nerve mesh: adolescent
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
Sonography of the cervical vagus nerve: Normal appearance and abnormal findings / Giovagnorio, Francesco; Carlo, Martinoli. - In: AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ROENTGENOLOGY. - ISSN 0361-803X. - STAMPA. - 176:3(2001), pp. 745-749. [10.2214/ajr.176.3.1760745]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/67537
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