Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Otorhinolaryngol. May 28, 2015; 5(2): 71-73
Published online May 28, 2015. doi: 10.5319/wjo.v5.i2.71
Rare complication: Tapia’s syndrome following shoulder surgery under endotracheal general anesthesia
Eda Şimşek, İlker Eren
Eda Şimşek, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Erzurum Regional Training and Research Hospital, 25240 Erzurum, Turkey
İlker Eren, Erzurum Regional Training and Research Hospital, Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, 25240 Erzurum, Turkey
Author contributions: Şimşek E contributed to ENT consutation, post-operative follow, drafting and preparıng of manuscript; Eren I contributed to orthopaedic surgeon, critical revision and translation of the manuscript.
Ethics approval: Instution stated that it was not nececssary due to the retrospective nature of the report, therefore not obtained.
Informed consent: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors certify that they have no affi liations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any fi nancial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affi liations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Eda Şimşek, MD, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Erzurum Regional Training and Research Hospital, Osmangazi mah. Tuna sok. Gökdemir sitesi, A blok K:6 D:29 25240, Yıldızkent, 25240 Erzurum, Turkey. hekimeda@hotmail.com
Telephone: +90-505-8841596 Fax: +90-442-2325098
Received: September 26, 2014
Peer-review started: September 28, 2014
First decision: January 8, 2015
Revised: March 4, 2015
Accepted: April 10, 2015
Article in press: April 12, 2015
Published online: May 28, 2015
Abstract

Tapia’s syndrome is a rare disorder, characterized with paralysis of extracranial part of Nervus Vagus and Nervus Hypoglossus, effecting the ipsilateral vocal cord and the tongue. This complication is usually related to intubation and head positioning during surgery. In this study, we report a case with Tapia’s syndrome under general anesthesia, following arthroscopic shoulder instability surgery. Patient recovered as short as 3 mo, following complication.

Keywords: Tapia’s syndrome, General anesthesia, Shoulder arthrocopy, Complication

Core tip: Tapia’s syndrome is a rare postoperative disorder. It is directly related to traction and hyperflexion of the head during surgery. Patients complain from dysarthria and hoarseness on the first post-operative day, which is related to traction and compression injury to N. Vagus and N. Hypoglossuss. Early diagnosis and treatment is the most important factor in the success of the treatment.