Understanding Anesthesiology - The Global Regional Anesthesia ...

There are many different laryngeal muscles. Some adduct, while
others abduct the cords. Some tense, while others relax the cords.
With the exception of one, they are all supplied by the recurrent laryngeal
nerve. The cricothyroid muscle, an adductor muscle, is
supplied by the external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve.
Table 1 Sensory innervation of the airway
NERVE
AREA SUPPLIED
Figure 1 Nerve
supply to the airway
This figure was
published in Atlas
of Regional
Anesthesia, 3rd
edition, David
Brown, Copyright
Elsevier
(2006) and used
with permission
lingual nerve
anterior 2/3 of tongue
glossopharyngeal nerve
superior laryngeal nerve
(internal branch)
recurrent laryngeal nerve
posterior 1/3 of tongue
epiglottis and larynx
trachea, lower airways
Figure 2 Sensory
innervation
of the tongue
From the 4th edition
(2010) of
"Principles of Airway
Management".
The
authors are B.T.
Finucane, B.C.H.
Tsui and A. Santora.
Used by permission
of Springer,
Inc.
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