Fig. 6.

Effect of laryngeal nerve transection injury on swallow function. Of the four surgical groups investigated, only unilateral RLN transection and bilateral SLN transection had a statistically significant effect on swallow function. At the acute (1-week post-surgery) time point, lick rate (i.e., tongue motility) was significantly slower after unilateral RLN transection (red line, Oral Stage—left panel), and pharyngeal transit time was significantly longer after bilateral SLN transection (purple line, Pharyngeal Stage—middle panel). In addition, esophageal transit time was longer for the unilateral RLN and bilateral SLN transection groups (red and purple lines, respectively, Esophageal Stage—right panel); however, results did not reach statistical significance. At the chronic (3-month post-surgery) time point, swallow function was not significantly different from baseline function. Asterisk denotes statistical significance (p < 0.05) based on change scores; error bars = ± 1 SEM