THIS ARTICLE is the second in a series of experimental studies undertaken to develop a method for correcting a paralysis of the cricothyroid muscle. In the first paper1 an investigation was made of the physiological properties of the sternothyroid and thyrohyoid muscles in the dog; findings from this study led to the development of an experimental method which appeared to correct the voice in a unilateral cricothyroid palsy. The procedure, in which a single strap of muscle composed of the sternothyroid and thyrohyoid was sutured to the cricoid cartilage, was also proposed by Arnold in 1961.2
In the previous paper, which appeared in the Archives,1 the validity of transposing the extrinsic laryngeal muscles to correct a cricothyroid palsy was demonstrated in terminal laboratory experiments. The purpose of this second study was to determine the reliability of this procedure in the conditioned animal.
Methods
Twelve large adult mongrel