Department of Surgery, Kuma Hospital, 8-2-35 Shimoyamate-dori, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0011, Japan.
Surg Today. 2013 Feb;43(2):225-8. doi: 10.1007/s00595-012-0236-3. Epub 2012 Jul 3.
The right recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) is more difficult to identify than the left RLN. The superior, lateral and inferior approaches are currently used to identify the RLN. This report presents a new technique, called the ima approach (the most inferior approach) for the quick identification of the right RLN.
The ima approach involves dissection along the right common carotid artery and division of the most lateral branch of the inferior thyroid veins. The right RLN is identified at the bottom of the RLN triangle. This technique and the conventional inferior approach were applied to 81 and 19 patients with thyroid cancer, respectively.
The ima approach required a significantly shorter time in identifying the nerve than the inferior approach (9.6 ± 16.6 and 31.2 ± 24.4 s, respectively, p < 0.0001).
The ima approach is an easy, quick and safe technique for identifying the right RLN.
右喉返神经（RLN）比左 RLN 更难识别。目前采用上、外侧和下侧方法来识别 RLN。本报告介绍了一种新的技术，称为 ima 方法（最下侧方法），用于快速识别右 RLN。
ima 方法包括沿右颈总动脉解剖和甲状腺下极静脉最外侧分支的分离。在 RLN 三角的底部识别右 RLN。该技术和传统的下侧方法分别应用于 81 例和 19 例甲状腺癌患者。
ima 方法识别神经所需的时间明显短于下侧方法（分别为 9.6 ± 16.6 和 31.2 ± 24.4 s，p < 0.0001）。
ima 方法是一种简单、快速和安全的识别右 RLN 的技术。
