<prompt> A 38-year-old man has had thyroid surgery to remove his papillary carcinoma. The external laryngeal nerve that accompanies the superior thyroid aery is damaged during the surgery.This injury could result in a severe impairment of function of which of the followingRelaxing the vocal cordsRotating the arytenoid cailagesTensing the vocal cordsWidening the rima glottidis  <response>: The External laryngeal nerve innervates the cricothyroid muscle major tensor, which tenses the vocal cord. Hence damage to this nerve will lead to inability to tense the vocal cords. 