A Case of Anti-IgLON5 Disease Showing an Improvement in Dysautonomia, Including Vocal Cord Palsy, via Combined Immunotherapy

Intern Med. 2024 Jan 2. doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.2865-23. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Anti-IgLON5 disease shows various neurological manifestations, of which dysautonomia is one of the major symptoms and is rarely improved by immunotherapy. We herein report a patient with anti-IgLON5 disease who showed several autonomic failures, including vocal cord palsy for four months. The patient presented with cognitive impairments, bulbar symptoms accompanied by myorhythmia in the pharynx and tongue, cerebellar ataxia with tremor, motor neuron symptoms in the limbs, gastrointestinal dysfunction, orthostatic hypotension, non-rapid eye movement sleep disorder on polysomnography, and severe vocal cord palsy. Combined immunotherapy improved his symptoms, including vocal cord palsy, suggesting that combined immunotherapy might improve dysautonomia in anti-IgLON5 disease.

Keywords: anti-IgLON5 disease; combined immunotherapy; dysautonomia; vocal cord palsy.