Paralysis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Paralysis, including details on treatment, diagnosis, facial paralysis, sleep paralysis.

Hoarseness due to bilateral vocal cord paralysis as an initial manifestation of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Fukae J, Kubo S, Hattori N, Komatsu K, Kato M, Aoki M, Mizuno Y

Department of Neurology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Japan.

Bulbar palsy is unusual as an initial manifestation of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), although common in the advanced stages. In terms of bulbar palsy as a presenting symptom, dysarthria and dysphagia are of common features. Hoarseness, however, is an initial symptom of ALS in only a small number of patients. We report a 43-year-old female with hoarseness due to bilateral vocal cord paralysis as the first manifestation of ALS. Gene analysis revealed a heterozygous missense mutation in the SOD1 gene, which resulted in an amino acid substitution of isoleucine 149 by threonine. Hoarseness can be the initial symptom of ALS. Therefore, in cases of bilateral vocal cord paralysis of unknown etiology, ALS should be taken into consideration.

Published 22 July 2005 in Amyotroph Lateral Scler Other Motor Neuron Disord, 6(2): 122-4.
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