OpenAnesthesia and the APSF: Achieving Safe and Quality Anesthesia Care with Education Innovation

Most anesthesiologists do not understand the muscles anatomy of the larynx. The only abductor ("opener") of the vocal cords is the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle. All muscles of the larynx apart from the cricothyroid muscle are innervated by the recurrent laryngeal nerve; therefore, the only abductor muscle of the vocal cords is innervated by the recurrent laryngeal nerve. If both recurrent laryngeal nerves were severed during an operation such as a thyroidectomy, you would expect severe airway obstruction.