Covid-19 causes first-of-its-kind vocal cord paralysis in US girl

In a firstofitskind case a 15yearold girl has experienced bilateral vocal cord paralysis after suffering a bout of Covid19 infectionThe patient an otherwise healthy girl was presented at the emergency department at Massachusetts General Hospital with symptoms of respiratory distress nine days after diagnosis with SARSCoV2 infectionExamination with an endoscope revealed bilateral vocal cord paralysis which is an immobility of both vocal cords found in the larynx or voice boxAccording to physicianresearchers at Mass Eye and Ear a member of Mass General Brigham it is ldquoThe first paediatric case of bilateral vocal cord paralysis after Covid and was likely a downstream effect of the CovidrdquoThe case detailed in the journal Pediatrics suggests that vocal cord paralysis may be a nervous systemrelated neuropathic complication of the virus in addition to already wellestablished neurologic complications in children and adultsldquoGiven how common this virus is among children this newlyrecognised potential complication should be considered in any child presenting with breathing talking or swallowing complaint after a recent Covid19 diagnosisrdquo said first author Danielle Reny Larrow a resident in the Department of OtolaryngologyHead and Neck Surgery at Mass Eye and EarldquoThis is especially important as such complaints could be easily attributed to more common diagnoses such as asthmardquoWhile at the hospital the patient underwent a detailed battery of diagnostic tests including blood work imaging cerebrospinal fluid analysis and consultations with otolaryngology neurology psychiatry speech language pathology and neurosurgery When speech therapy failed to relieve the patientrsquos symptoms the physicians performed a tracheostomy a surgically created opening in the windpipe to relieve the patientrsquos breathing difficultiesShe remained tracheostomydependent for more than 13 months after initial treatment suggesting that this type of nerve complication may not be temporary Following the submission of this case report the physicians were able to remove the tracheostomy 15 months after it was inserted and just in time for the patientrsquos high school graduation and promldquoShe was having her senior prom a year and a quarter to the date of when she lost her function and she told me she was not going to go to the prom with her tracheostomy in placerdquo Hartnick saidldquoWe decided to intervene so that she could graduate high school and go to her prom tracheostomyfree which she didrdquoPostviral neuropathy is a known cause of vocal cord paralysis and there have been several reports of paralysis in one or both vocal cords of adults as a complication of SARSCoV2 infection but this is the first report of the complication in an adolescentThis is important the team said because these types of complications are not usually expected in young healthy individuals and there have been more than 15 million reported cases of paediatric SARSCoV2 infectionldquoTo have a young healthy vibrant high schooler all of a sudden lose one of their important cranial nerves such that they cant breathe is highly unusual and took some parsingrdquo said senior author Christopher Hartnick director of the Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology at Mass Eye and EarldquoThe fact that kids can actually have longterm neurotrophic effects from Covid19 is something that is important for the broader paediatric community to be aware of in order to be able to treat our kids wellrdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever