Tapia's syndrome is considered a neuropraxic injury of the recurrent laryngeal nerve and hypoglossal nerve which commonly presents after postoperative general anesthesia as hoarseness and dysphagia. Clinicians should consider this diagnosis in those presenting with symptoms of cranial nerve X and cranial nerve XII injury in the post-extubation setting for prompt diagnosis and management. Here, we report a rare case of Tapia's syndrome following cardiac surgery which was then treated with carboxymethylcellulose gel implant injection.
Keywords: Tapia’s syndrome; hypoglossal nerve; intubation; paralysis; paresis; recurrent laryngeal nerve; vocal cord; vocal cord injection.