Bilateral vocal fold paralysis after COVID-19 infection. Another neuro-invasive manifestation? Case series
Abstract
The agent that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), associated with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2), produces a spectrum of symptoms that mainly affect the respiratory system, the central nervous system (CNS), the regulation of hemostasis and the immune system.
Bilateral vocal fold paralysis (BVFP) is a condition of unknown incidence among infected patients, either because it is short-lived or because of the difficulty in establishing a direct cause to the virus.
Viral infection has been described in the literature as a cause of BVFP and there is the suspicion that a proportion of the idiopathic cases are due to undiagnosed viral infections.
Although the neurotropic mechanisms for SARS-CoV-2 remain unclear, there is strong evidence to ensure its neuroinvasive potential.
The most frequent etiologies of BVFP are trauma, neoplasm, and neurological, but a viral origin should not be ruled out. Causality between COVID-19 and BVFP is plausible and will require further study in the short and long term.
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