[Neonatal vocal cord palsy. Clinical and therapeutical approaches]

Between 1998 and 2000, four newborns have been observed for laryngeal stridor occurred some hours after birth. Otorhinolaryngologic examinations, as well as cardiac, neuroradiologic and serologic investigations have been performed to formulate the diagnosis and verify the etiology. The fiberoptic laryngoscopy showed a bilateral paralysis of the vocal cord in two newborns, a monolateral paralysis of the left vocal cord in another and in the last one, instead, a bilateral cordal hypomobility. The follow-up performed till the age of one year showed a complete remission of the symptomatology in two newborns, respectively in the one with monolateral paralysis and in the other affected by hypomobility of the vocal cords; of the two newborns with bilateral paralysis, instead, one is dead because of Haemophilus Influenzae epiglottitis, three weeks after discharge without physicians' consensus, while in the other patient, affected by lobar holoprosencephaly, it was necessary to perform a tracheotomy because of a severe obstructive apnea. The lobar holoprosencephaly, is a cerebral malformation characterized by the partial separation of the cerebral hemispheres, and it is described for the first time associated with bilateral vocal cords paralysis.