Motor disorders of voice and speech in Reye's syndrome survivors

M. A. Reitman, J. Casper, J. Coplan, L. B. Weiner, R. M. Kellman and R. K. Kanter

Disorders of voice and speech were studied in 43 survivors of Reye's syndrome (RS). During hospital convalescence 26 (60%) of 43 were aphonic, hoarse, or had other alterations of speech production. These disorders occurred in those patients with the worst severity of RS. Four patients (9% of survivors) had a persistent motor voice or speech disorder at follow-up examination 1 1/2 to five years after recovery. All of the patients have breathy, low-intensity voice quality, whereas three of the four exhibit rapid and slurred speech. These four children have no difficulty with the symbolic aspects of language and their motor voice and speech impairment cannot be ascribed to global intellectual deficit. Although other neurologic deficits are present in three of these four children, the disorders of voice and speech are the major permanent disabling handicap in our RS survivors.