Sarcoidosis as a cause of left recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy

Abstract

Vocal cord paralysis is an unusual complication of sarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis may affect vocal cord function by either direct involvement of the cord or by involvement of the neural pathways, including the nucleus ambiguous, the 10th cranial nerves, and the superior and recurrent laryngeal nerves. There have been only two previous case reports of sarcoidosis with mediastinal adenopathy causing compression of the left recurrent laryngeal nerve and vocal cord paralysis. We present a third such case.