A Rare Case of Stiff Person Syndrome With Pulmonary Complications

Abstract

Stiff person syndrome (SPS) is a specific neurological condition, as it's both rare and unique. SPS is distinguished by muscle rigidity that occurs in waves with simultaneous painful and debilitating muscular spasms. Tactile or auditory stimuli can induce spasms. On electromyographic study, the patient has continuous motor activity, very similar to tetanus. The syndrome can lead to difficulty doing essential daily tasks or even painful conditions like fractures. Apart from clinical signs, some patients have positive anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (anti-GAD) antibodies, which can also be an excellent confirmatory test for diagnosing SPS. In this case report, we present a 36-year-old female with a long history of SPS, with positive anti-GAD antibodies, leading to her chronic dependence on a tracheostomy tube and the pulmonary complications that followed. The patient suffered from acute encephalopathy secondary to acute respiratory failure. She was placed on a mechanical ventilator due to her respiratory failure but later developed a case of ventilator-associated pneumonia. Respiratory complications have not been reported vividly with this syndrome, so this case sheds light on the same.