Laryngeal Abductor Paralysis

Plott (1964) described 3 brothers with permanent congenital laryngeal abductor paralysis and mental deficiency. A fourth male sib suspected of having been affected died perinatally. Dysgenesis of the nucleus ambiguus was considered likely. Watters and Fitch (1973) presented a pedigree which made X-linked recessive inheritance likely. Two brothers were affected together with a first cousin once removed connected through females. Opitz (1977) made the useful point that brain damage resulting from respiratory distress may dominate the picture so that X-linked mental retardation (see 309530) may be suspected. Opitz et al. (1978) published 2 pedigrees collected by Durkin (1974) which showed typical X-linked recessive inheritance.