Dysphonia as an unusual debut of Parsonage-Turner syndrome

Parsonage-Turner syndrome is a rare and painful peripheral neuropathy that usually presents as brachial plexus neuritis and also has other nerve involvement.

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.

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.