J Korean Rheum Assoc.  2000 Sep;7(3):280-285.

A Case of Pulmonary Hypertension and Left Vocal Cord Palsy in a Patient with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

• Kim DY
• Suh JH
• Kang SM
• Kim CO
• Na HG
• Kim JS
• Song JS
• Park YB
• Lee WK
• Choi HS
• Lee SK

Abstract

There have been few case reports on the association of vocal cord palsy and pulmonary hypertension in a systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patient. Most cases had left vocal cord palsy caused by compression of left recurrent laryngeal nerve secondary to pulmonary hypertension, and only two cases in the literature were caused by vasculitis or inflammation of the right recurrent laryngeal nerve not related to pulmonary hypertension. Recently, we have experienced a 23-year-old female patient who presented hoarseness and multiple joint pain. She was diagnozed as SLE and left vocal cord palsy, and echocardiographic examination demonstrated enlargement of right atrium, right ventricle, and elevated right ventricular pressure (systolic pressure 47mmHg). She took high-dose glucocorticoid and calcium channel blocker. About one month later, there was significant improvement of hoarseness, arthritis, and cardiomegaly, and showed improvement of the left vocal cord palsy on the laryngoscopic examination. We report a case of left vocal cord palsy and pulmonary hypertension accompanied by SLE who experienced improvement of hoarseness after steroid treatment.

Keyword

Vocal cord palsy; Pulmonary hypertension; Systemic lupus erythematosus

MeSH Terms

Arthralgia
Arthritis
Calcium Channels
Cardiomegaly
Echocardiography
Female
Heart Atria
Heart Ventricles
Hoarseness
Humans
Hypertension, Pulmonary*
Inflammation
Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic*
Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve
Vasculitis
Ventricular Pressure
Vocal Cord Paralysis*
Vocal Cords*
Young Adult
Calcium Channels