Prolonged neurologic dysfunction after a general anaesthetic

Abstract

We report a case of a twenty year old Caucasian male student with no past medical history, who underwent a general anaesthetic for a knee arthroscopy. Post-operatively, he developed a prominent and debilitating stutter. He was unable to formulate sentences, and could solely communicate via writing. Organic causes of this presentation were excluded following a full neurological assessment and an MRI scan of the brain. He was subsequently diagnosed with a functional speech disorder. The stutter prolonged his hospital stay by three days and persisted for four months. His speech eventually normalised following an extensive period of intensive speech therapy. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of a functional speech disorder following general anaesthesia.