[The electromyography as an aid the for differential diagnosis of laryngeal movement disturbances (author's transl)].

Laryngeal movement disturbances especially require a differential diagnosis between innervation disturbances and other organic causes. Although this is to be achieved by means of electromyographic examination of the intrinsic muscles of the larynx only, this relatively easy and almost riskless method has been applied for clinical-diagnostic purposes only rarely until now. After a brief description of the technical procedure a few cases (secundary fixation of the cricoarytaenoid joint after an old paralysis of the recurrent nerve; lesion of the recurrent nerve by compression after endotracheal intubation; late lesion of the vagal nerve after operation; paralyses of N. laryngicus cranialis after thyroidectomy; congenital bilateral anchylosis of the cricoarytaenoid joints; prove of re-innervation after surgical repair of the recurrent nerve) are reported to demonstrate that this diagnostic aid is necessary as therapy often depends on the electromyographic findings. Electromyography may give valuable informations about the prognosis of vocal cord paralysis and may become quite important for forensic questions.