Opercular syndrome: A case report and review

We present a 9-year-old boy with history of perinatal asphyxia and neonatal seizures; who presented with delayed development of speech, with predominant dysarthria, dysphagia, and drooling of saliva and unable to protrude tongue along with delayed motor and mental milestones. He had complex partial seizures since last 3 years requiring multiple anti-epileptic drugs. He had dysarthria, nasal twang, and drooling of saliva with difficulty in chewing and swallowing. Hearing and understanding were normal. Bilateral trigemino-facio-linguo-pharyngeal palsy was noticed on voluntary movements with normal jaw jerk with preserved automatic and emotional motor movements. Electroencephalography revealed focal left fronto-temporal epileptiform discharges and brain imaging was suggestive of bilateral cortical and subcortical region encephalomalacia, predominantly involving bilateral opercular region. The clinical and neuroimaging features correspond to bilateral opercular syndrome which could have resulted from the perinatal insult in this case.