Isolated unilateral vagus nerve palsy secondary to trauma

Abstract

A 41-year-old man presented to emergency service with loss of consciousness lasting 20 minutes after a piece of wood struck the right side of his face. Shortly after admission, he developed difficulty swallowing. On admission, he was alert and had normal vital findings. There was no motor, sensorial, or cerebellar deficit. Deviation of the uvula to the left side and pharyngeal reflex loss on the right side was obvious. The right vocal cord was paralyzed. Other cranial nerves were intact on examination. The patient's cranial computed tomography (CT), CT-angiogram, cranial and neck magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, MR-angiogram, and cervical and lung X-ray were normal. We evaluated this case with isolated unilateral vagus nerve palsy (VNP) secondary to trauma at the emergency department. Our case illustrated that trauma can cause isolated VNP with the absence of abnormal findings on imaging modalities.