Aphonia induced by simultaneous bilateral ischemic infarctions of the putamen nuclei: A case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Introduction. Isolated aphonia induced by acute stroke is a rare phenomenon with only a few cases reported in the literature. Case presentation. We report an unusual case of a 44-year-old African-American man with a history of hypertension, smoking and cocaine use who developed acute aphonia secondary to simultaneous ischemic infarctions of the bilateral putamen nuclei. Conclusion: We describe the clinical presentation of acute aphonia induced by bilateral putamen nuclei ischemic infarctions, correlating clinical symptoms with injury localization. We further highlight the anatomic and functional organization of the neural pathways involved. © 2013 Senatorov et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.