Sorry to bring this back on the table, but in the other thread I had said that the RLN probably had a reason/function for it's passage down under the aorta. I just read today what the textbook 'Gray's anatomy' had to say about it:
quote:
As the recurrent nerve hooks around the subclavian artery or aorta, it gives off several cardiac filaments to the deep part of the cardiac plexus. As it ascends in the neck it gives off branches, more numerous on the left than on the right side, to the mucous membrane and muscular coat of the esophagus; branches to the mucous membrane and muscular fibers of the trachea; and some pharyngeal filaments to the Constrictor pharyngis inferior.
The Vagus Nerve - Human Anatomy
So it seems that it does in fact have a role in supplying parts of the heart, windpipe muscles, mucuous membranes and the esophagus.
Can a discussion be continued based on this new information ?
Edited by slevesque, : No reason given.