[Unilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy following brief periods of intubation. Two cases (author's transl)].

One of these two cases (1 h 30 and 48 hours) was permanent. The cause of the paralysis seems to be either from compression of the nerve between the endotracheal tube cuff and the cricoid, or from compression between the thyroid ala and a dislocated arytenoid cartilage from use of an unnecessarily large tube. An anatomical study has helped to confirm this hypothesis and shows the presence of an ischaemic aera overlying the nerve at the level of its entrance into the larynx due to the endotracheal cuff.