Vocal Cord Paralysis (Recurrent Paresis): Examination

A comprehensive clinical examination is the basis for selecting further diagnostic steps:

• General physical examination – including blood pressure, pulse, body weight, height; further:
  • Inspection (viewing).
    • Skin, mucous membranes and sclerae (white part of the eye).
  • Auscultation (listening) to the lungs [due tosymptom: dyspnea (shortness of breath)].
• ENT medical examination – including laryngoscopy (laryngoscopy).
• Neurological examination if necessary [due todifferential diagnoses:
  • Bulbar paralysis – disease in which there is a failure of motor cranial nerve nuclei.
  • Superior laryngeal nerve lesion.
  • Inferior laryngeal nerve lesion
  • Wallenberg syndrome (synonyms: Brainstem syndrome, Dorsolateral medulla-oblongatat syndrome or Arteria-cerebellaris-inferior-posterior syndrome; English PICA syndrome) – special form of apoplexy (stroke)]

Square brackets [ ] indicate possible pathological (pathological) physical findings.