Ortner's syndrome: case series and literature review.

Unlabelled: More than a century ago, Ortner described a case of cardiovocal syndrome wherein he attributed a case of left vocal fold immobility to compression of the recurrent laryngeal nerve by a dilated left atrium in a patient with mitral valve stenosis. Since then, the term Ortner's syndrome has come to encompass any nonmalignant, cardiac, intrathoracic process that results in embarrassment of either recurrent laryngeal nerve-usually by stretching, pulling, or compression; and causes vocal fold paralysis. Not surprisingly, the left recurrent laryngeal nerve, with its longer course around the aortic arch, is more frequently involved than the right nerve, which passes around the subclavian artery.