1995 Volume 1995 Issue Supplement78 Pages 171-178
A case of chordoma of the jugular foramen presenting a phonatory disorder as the initial symptom is reported. The patient, a 13-year-old girl, sought treatment at the Department of Otolaryngology, Nihon University Surugadai Hospital with a major complaint of difficulty in phonation. At the initial examination, no obvious abnormalities of the larynx were noted. Her voice quality and phonatory examinations were normal. Recurrent nerve paralysis of the left side was discovered 4 months later when the patient retured to the clinic with hoarseness which had developed following a cold. In a subsequent visit to the clinic two months later, the patient was found to have sensory and motor paralysis of the left pharynx and paralysis of the left strenocleidomastoid muscle. An enlargement of the left jugular foramen was detected on a 3D-CT and the presence of a dumbbell shaped tumor was observed on MRI examination. At craniotomy, an encapsulated tumor and the X, X and XI cranial nerves were found at the jugular foramen. The encapsulated tumor was excised and found to be chondroid chordoma. The case is considered unusual because of the considerable time that elapsed between onset and development of jugular foramen syndrome.
