Kota Inoue, Shinji Nakamura, Kosuke Koyano, Takashi Kusaka
{"title":"Worster-Drought syndrome with progressive symptomatic improvement in early infancy.","authors":"Kota Inoue, Shinji Nakamura, Kosuke Koyano, Takashi Kusaka","doi":"10.1136/bcr-2024-263524","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Worster-Drought syndrome (WDS), or congenital suprabulbar paresis, is characterised by congenital dysarthria, dysphagia and other pseudobulbar paresis without structural abnormalities around the Sylvian fissure on imaging. This rare syndrome is challenging to diagnose, particularly in preterm infants. This report describes a low-birth-weight female infant with WDS who had no sucking reflex from birth, airway obstruction due to saliva retention and muscle rigidity, who was diagnosed with the syndrome at a postconceptional age (PCA) of 1 month. She was discharged with only home oxygen therapy as respiratory support at a PCA of 3 months after gradual improvement in her clinical symptoms. Diagnosis of WDS is difficult in the early postnatal period in preterm cases owing to prematurity but should be suspected when bulbar palsy, including absence of the sucking reflex, persistent dysphagia and obstructed breathing, persists beyond a PCA of 40 weeks and when muscle stiffness is present.</p>","PeriodicalId":9080,"journal":{"name":"BMJ Case Reports","volume":"18 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"BMJ Case Reports","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2024-263524","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Worster-Drought syndrome (WDS), or congenital suprabulbar paresis, is characterised by congenital dysarthria, dysphagia and other pseudobulbar paresis without structural abnormalities around the Sylvian fissure on imaging. This rare syndrome is challenging to diagnose, particularly in preterm infants. This report describes a low-birth-weight female infant with WDS who had no sucking reflex from birth, airway obstruction due to saliva retention and muscle rigidity, who was diagnosed with the syndrome at a postconceptional age (PCA) of 1 month. She was discharged with only home oxygen therapy as respiratory support at a PCA of 3 months after gradual improvement in her clinical symptoms. Diagnosis of WDS is difficult in the early postnatal period in preterm cases owing to prematurity but should be suspected when bulbar palsy, including absence of the sucking reflex, persistent dysphagia and obstructed breathing, persists beyond a PCA of 40 weeks and when muscle stiffness is present.
期刊介绍:
BMJ Case Reports is an important educational resource offering a high volume of cases in all disciplines so that healthcare professionals, researchers and others can easily find clinically important information on common and rare conditions. All articles are peer reviewed and copy edited before publication. BMJ Case Reports is not an edition or supplement of the BMJ.