Dysphonia as an unusual debut of parsonage-Turner syndrome

Background Parsonage-Turner syndrome is a rare and painful peripheral neuropathy that usually presents as brachial plexus neuritis and also has other nerve involvement. Methods and Results Herein, we report the case of a patient with right recurrent nerve palsy as the first clinically isolated manifestation of underlying Parsonage-Turner syndrome. Idiopathic dysphonia was the only symptom presenting during a week for a patient that later developed a more conventional neurological deficit in her right shoulder. Conclusions The case illustrates the need for a careful clinical-neurologic examination beyond the larynx in patients presenting with idiopathic dysphonia. Parsonage-Turner syndrome should be considered as one of the rare causes in the differential diagnosis of isolated and otherwise unexplained dysphonia. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2013