Girl in Boston, 15, suffered vocal cord paralysis after catching COVID and had to live with a tube in her WINDPIPE – in first case of its kind
- The patient received a tracheostomy – a tube in the windpipe to allow breathing
- She was able to have it removed just in time for her high school prom
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From loss of taste and smell to months of brain fog, Covid has caused a host of bizarre symptoms.
But doctors in Boston say they may have made one of the strangest discoveries yet: after the virus paralyzed a girl's vocal cords and left her mute.
The 15-year-old, who was otherwise healthy, came to the emergency department at Massachusetts General Hospital two weeks after contracting Covid with difficulty breathing and speaking.
Doctors examined her throat with an endoscope – a medical device with a light and camera attached – and discovered that both her vocal cords were paralyzed.
The 15-year-old patient, who was otherwise healthy, came to the emergency department at Massachusetts General Hospital two weeks after contracting Covid with difficulty breathing and speaking (stock photo)
Doctors performed a tracheostomy – an operation to create an opening in the windpipe – to ease her breathing problems. Doctors place a tube in the trachea so that a person can breathe and speak more easily
She underwent a host of tests, including blood tests, analysis of fluid from her spine, speech-language and psychiatric tests, but doctors could find no cause other than her recent Covid infection.
Dr. Christopher Hartnick, director of the Pediatric Otolaryngology and Pediatric Airway, Voice, and Swallowing Center at Mass Eye and Ear, said, “To have a young, healthy, vibrant high school student suddenly lose one of their important cranial nerves so they can not breathing is highly unusual and required some analysis.”
Speech therapy didn't help relieve her symptoms, so doctors performed a tracheostomy — a surgery to create an opening in the windpipe — to ease her breathing problems.
Doctors place a tube in the trachea so that a person can breathe and speak more easily.
The girl was dependent on the tube for over a year, but the doctors did able to remove it just in time for her high school graduation and prom.
Dr. Hartnick said, “She had her senior prom a year and a quarter before the date she lost her position, and she told me she would not be going to prom with her tracheostomy in place.
“We decided to intervene so she could graduate high school and go to her prom without a tracheostomy, which she did.”
Nerve dysfunction after a viral infection is a known cause of vocal cord paralysis, the doctors said, and there have been several reports of paralysis of one or both vocal cords in adults as a complication of Covid, but this is the first report of the problem in a child.
These types of outcomes are not normally expected in young, healthy individuals.
It has been suggested that vocal cord paralysis after Covid may be due to inflammation related to an immune response or the way the virus affects the nerves in the throat.
Dray Danielle Larrow, Associate in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Mass Eye and Ear, said: 'Given how common this virus is in children, this newly recognized potential complication should be considered in any child experiencing respiratory distress. . talking or swallowing complaint after a recent Covid diagnosis.
'This is especially important because such complaints can easily be attributed to more common diagnoses such as asthma.'
Dr. Hartnick added: 'The fact that children can actually suffer long-term neurotrophic effects from Covid is something that is important that the wider pediatric community is aware of in order to properly treat our children.'
The case was published in the magazine Pediatrics.