Vol.101 No.8 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 101 No. 8 August 2008
Investigation into the Two Cases of Vocal Cord
Palsy by Varicella-Zoster Virus
Noriko Tamaruya
(The University of Tokyo Hospital)
Yuko Hata, Nobuhiko Kurita and Taeko Okuno
(Mitsui Memorial Hospital)
We encountered two cases of multiple cranial nerve palsy involvement with varicella-zoster virus, where X cranial nerve palsy, more specifically vocal cord palsy, had recovered after prolonged progress. The patients were a 57-year-old female who complained of hoarseness and dysphagia and a 51-year-old male who complained of hoarseness, right hearing impairment and right facial palsy. The first patient had IX.X nerve palsy and the second patient had VII.VIII.IX.X nerve palsy. Both cases showed complete vocal cord palsy because of X cranial nerve involvement. In the first case, vocal cord palsy had persisted for eleven months, then recovered quickly during the twelfth month. In the second, vocal cord palsy recovered slowly over ten months. In case of X cranial nerve palsy due to varicella-zoster virus, we should consider that each case may show an individual recovery process with a widely varied time course.
Key words :vocal cord palsy, varicella-zoster virus, multiple cranial nerve involvement, X cranial nerve palsy