Vocal cord fixation caused by an impacted fish bone in hypopharynx: report of a rare case

Abstract

We report a rare case of vocal cord fixation caused by a fish bone in the hypopharynx. The patient was a 72-year-old woman. She presented with hoarseness that had appeared suddenly while eating baked fish. The diagnosis was suggested by a clinical history and confirmed by a computed tomography scan. The fish bone was removed via microlaryngoscopic operation under general anesthesia. The restoration of her vocal cord mobility required a few months. Vocal cord fixation is an extremely rare complication of a pharyngeal foreign body. In all of the few cases reported previously, the fixation was caused by mechanical obstruction of vocal cord movement or by recurrent nerve palsy secondary to inflammation. Our case is not typical of mechanical or inflammatory fixation. It is possible that the recurrent nerve was damaged directly by the fish bone.