Overview of Head/Neck

Question 1

Drooping of the shoulder & weakness turning the head to the opposite side indicates injury to what nerve?

Answer 1

Spinal accessory nerve

Innervates the trapezius and the sternocleidomastoid muscle

Question 2

Paralysis of facial expression muscles indicates injury to what?

Answer 2

Facial nerve

Question 3

What innervates teh strap musclesof the neck?

Answer 3

Ansa cervicalis

Question 4

What innervates the intrinsic muscles of the tongue, genioglossus, hypoglossus, and styloglossus?

Answer 4

Hypoglossal nerve

Question 5

Sensation over the angle of the jaw & posteroinferior to the auricle of the ear is innervated by the

Answer 5

Great auricular nerve (C2-C3)

Question 6

Sensation to the anterior and lateral aspects of the neck is innervated by

Answer 6

Transverse cervical nerve (C2-3)

Question 7

Sensation to the back of the neck & posterior occiput is innervated by what?

Answer 7

Third occipital nerve (C3)

Question 8

Sensation to the inferior neck, the upper deltoid region, and skin inferior to the clavicles is inenrvated by

Answer 8

Supraclavicular nerves (C3-4)

Question 9

Deviation of the tongue toward the affected side indicates injury to what nerve?

Answer 9

Hypoglossal nerve, because it innervates tongue muscles (except the palatoglossus)

Question 10

What nerve runs with the superior thyroid artery?

Answer 10

External branch of superior laryngeal nerve (innervates cricothyroid)

Question 11

Loss of sensation above the vocal cords indicates damage to what nerve?

Answer 11

Internal laryngeal nerve (internal branch of superior laryngeal)

–> patient can’t detect food or foreign objects; may aspirate stuff

Question 12

• Loss of sensation below the vocal cords
• Paralysis to all laryngeal muscles except the cricothyroid, resulting in hoarseness
• Inability to abduct vocal cords

indicates damage to what?

Answer 12

Recurrent laryngeal nerve

Question 13

Paralysis of the cricothyroid muscle and vocal weakness indicates damage to what nerve?

Answer 13

External branch of the superior laryngeal nerve

motor only

Question 14

Carotid sinus

Answer 14

Baroreceptor that can be massaged to decrease blood pressure

Question 15

CArotid body

Answer 15

Chemoreceptor responsible to the balance of oxygen and carbondioxide

Question 16

Where is a cricothyrotomy performed? What artery is in danger?

Answer 16

Incision at the cricothyroid membrane between the thyroid cartilage and cricoid cartilage. Upper end of the median cricothyroid ligament.

Cricothyroid arteries on each side anastomose with each other at this area, so it can bleed into trachea.

283

Question 17

What nerve gives sensory to the piriform fossa, an dsupplies somatic sensory fibers to larynx above vocal cords, epiglottis, and valleculae?

Answer 17

Internal branch of superior laryngeal nerve

Question 18

Difference in teh path between the left and right recurrent laryngeal nerve

Answer 18

Left recurrent laryngeal nerve hooks under the ligamentum arteriosum at the arch of the aorta, then travels through the tracheoesophageal groove to the larynx

Right recurrent laryngeal nerve- hooks under th eright subclavian artery to ge tback up to the larynx.

On their path back up to the neck, both run posterior to the middle part of the thyroid gland, making them prone to injury in a thyroidectomy.

Question 19

What nerves are rsponsible for the swallowing reflex?

Answer 19

Vagus nerve (CN X) and glossopharyngeal (CN IX)