Each of the eleventh pair of cranial nerves, supplying certain muscles in the neck and shoulder.
‘The spinal accessory nerve and its musculature.’
‘This area, too, is an area through which a massive tangle of facial nerves (including the hypoglossal and accessory nerves) exit the skull to fan out across the face.’
‘From its beginning at the 5th cervical segment, the spinal root of the accessory nerve increases in thickness as fibers join it from higher segments.’
‘The accessory nerve may also arise from L2, L3 and L4; L2, L3; or L3; or it may arise from the obturator nerve.’
‘This preserves function, especially in relation to the accessory nerve, which if sacrificed usually gives rise to a stiff and painful shoulder.’
‘‘Functional’ neck dissections, modified to preserve the jugular, sternomastoid, or accessory nerve while ensuring complete removal of involved nodes, have gained popularity.’
‘Vagal and accessory nerve palsy have been reported and may be due to a toxic neuritis rather than from compression.’
‘His spinal accessory nerve was mistakenly severed during surgery to remove a cyst on his neck.’
‘Excisional biopsy has few complications, such as vessel injury and the rare spinal accessory nerve injury.’
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