F. Giovagnorio et C. Martinoli, Sonography of the cervical vagus nerve: Normal appearance and abnormal findings, AM J ROENTG, 176(3), 2001, pp. 745-749
Citations number
15
Categorie Soggetti
Radiology ,Nuclear Medicine & Imaging","Medical Research Diagnosis & Treatment
OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to assess the appearance of the ce
rvical 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 suspect
ed. In three patients a cervical mass was palpable, and three patients had
symptoms of dysfunction of the inferior laryngeal or vagal nerves. The path
ologic diagnoses of the masses were obtained at biopsy,
RESULTS. In 144 individuals the normal vagus nerve was recognized on each s
ide 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
rumors arising from the vagus nerve: one neurofibroma, one neurinoma. and
one chemodectoma. These turners were located in the neurovascular bundle an
d posterior to the vessels: their origin from the vagus nerve was clearly v
isible 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 n
odule was a branchial cyst.
CONCLUSION. Sonography can reveal the vagus nerve in healthy conditions and
correctly reveal the vagal origin of some rumors in the parapharyngeal spa
ces.