Four Cases of Bilateral Vocal Cord Paralysis by Ischemic Stroke

Bilateral vocal cord paralysis (VCP) is a rare, life-threatening complication of stroke. We described the clinical course and treatment of bilateral VCP by acute ischemic stroke. We confirmed 4 cases of VCP. Two cases had brain-stem lesions, one case showed bilateral cerebral lesions and the last one had brainstem and cerebral lesions. One of the 4 cases showed spontaneous improvement of unilateral vocal cord function after 2 months. Among the rest, one under-went laser cordotomy, one remained tracheostomized, one was lost. (J Korean Neurol Assoc 19(4):400~403, 2001)

A Case of Adult Onset Nemaline Myopathy with Selective Respiratory Muscle Weakness

Nemaline myopathies, originally reported as a type of congenital myopathy, are clinically and genetically heterogenous diseases. Clinically, nemalin myopathies can be divided into infantile, juvenile and adult forms, and genetically, into autosomal dominant and recessive. There are several reports on nemalin myopathy in Korea, all juvenile forms, but not adult or infant form. In contrast to juvenile form, the adult congential nemalin myopathy is characterized by rather selective acute or subacute respiratory dysfunction in adult age with sporadic or autosomal recessive inheritance. Here, we report the first case of an adult form of nemalin myopathy, whose symptoms were rapidly developed at the age of 32. Therefore, nemalin myopathy can be included in the differential diagnosis for the unexplainable respiratory failure in adult age.