A 34-Year-Old Man Comes to the Physician Reporting One Week

question 239

Multiple Choice

A 34-year-old man comes to the physician reporting one week of inability to extend his right wrist and several of his fingers on the same hand.  He first began having difficulty while trying to type his thesis for graduate school on his computer.  He is right-handed and does not recall any trauma.  He has a history of asthma that was diagnosed while he was in college.  Physical examination demonstrates impaired dorsiflexion of the right wrist with normal strength of the left wrist.  Laboratory studies show: Serum antibodies against neutrophil myeloperoxidase are positive.  This patient most likely has which of the following conditions?

• A)Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis
• B)Anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody disease
• C)Carpal tunnel syndrome
• D)Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis
• E)Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
• F)Systemic sclerosis

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Definitions:

Cranial Nerves

are the twelve pairs of nerves that emerge directly from the brain, not the spinal cord, and control various functions of the body and head.

Glossopharyngeal

A cranial nerve that innervates parts of the tongue and pharynx, playing roles in taste, swallowing, and salivation.

Hypoglossal

Pertaining to the twelfth cranial nerve, which controls the movements of most muscles in the tongue.

Glossopharyngeal Nerve

The ninth cranial nerve which is responsible for sensory and motor functions in the throat, including taste on the posterior third of the tongue.