Section: USMLE

43) A 22-year-old woman presents to her physician with amenorrhea, weight loss, anxiety, tremor, heat intolerance, and palpitations. Laboratory examination is consistent with hyperthyroidism, and the physician prescribes propylthiouracil. The patient's response to propylthiouracil is disappointing, and the symptoms recur, then worsen. Subtotal thyroidectomy is successfully performed, but following the surgery, the woman is extremely hoarse, and can barely speak above a whisper. This hoarseness is most probably related to damage to a branch which of the following cranial nerves?