Cardiovocal syndrome secondary to a giant aortic arch aneurysm

Abstract

Cardiovocal syndrome is a clinic entity about the association between hoarseness secondary to vocal fold paralysis and cardiovascular disorders. These cardiovascular disorders, including mitral stenosis, cor pulmonale, pulmonary hypertension, aortopulmonarywindow, Ebstein’s anomaly, aortic dissecting and aortic aneurysms, may cause vocal fold paralysis [1]. Aortic aneurysm, consisting of thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm, is a segmental full-thickness dilation of the aorta at least 50% diameter compared to expected diameter. Patients having thoracic aortic aneurysms are usually asymptomatic [2,3]. Up to 5% of patients with thoracic aortic aneurysm involving the aortic arch develop cardiovocal syndrome due to the left recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy [2]. An aneurysm having a diametermore than 10 cm is defined as a giant aneurysm [3]. We present a rare case of cardiovocal syndrome secondary to a giant aortic arch aneurysm in a geriatric patient.