Nerve injury: injury to the recurrent laryngeal, phrenic, vagus, long thoracic, and sympathetic nerves during thoracic surgery.

Nerve injury occurs in about 1% of patients undergoing thoracic surgery. Most commonly, it is the result of surgical trauma specific to the area of operation. Alternatively, it may be due to retraction on adjacent structures during the exposure of complex surgical procedures. This article reviews the most common types of nerve injury and discusses the pathophysiology, etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of each.