The right non-recurrent inferior laryngeal nerve (NRILN) is a rare nerve anomaly that communicates the laryngeal nerve to the right vagal nerve trunk directly in the neck, which is usually accompanied by aberrant right subclavian artery (ARSA). We report on two cases of thoracic esophageal carcinoma undertaken in patients with these abnormalities: a 73-year-old woman with progressive dysphagia and a 63-year-old asymptomatic man. Although there have been 10 cases of thoracic esophageal carcinomas associated with ARSA and NRILN in literature, as far as we are aware of, this is the first report to describe successful resection using video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). We found that the combination of preoperative recognition of the ARSA using three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) and VATS in the prone position allowed for visual magnification with an excellent thoracoscopic view and facilitated successful tumor resection and preservation of NRILN.
Keywords: Esophageal cancer; aberrant right subclavian artery; nonrecurrent inferior laryngeal nerve; video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.