July - September 2010, Volume 6, Issue 3

Yetim I, ?zkan O, Cumali G, T?lindurgun Y, G?venc D, Nazan S, Ramazan D, Hasan K

Late onset dysphagia after thyroidectomy: thyroid remnant os thyroglossal hyperplasia?

Acta Endo (Buc) 2010, 6 (3): 377-380
doi: 10.4183/aeb.2010.377

Lingual thyroid is a rare developmental disorder, and it is the result of failure of the thyroid gland to descend from the tongue root to its normal site. The ectopic thyroid with a functioning gland is even rarer. In this case, we present a 44-year-old female patient with a complaint of foreign body sensation, progressive dysphagia and dyspnea due to ectopic thyroid tissue. Her complaints were totally resolved after L-thyroxine treatment. Here we report a patient with functioning ectopic thyroid tissue who had had bilateral subtotal thyroidectomy 10 years ago due to multinodular goiter. In conclusion, if progressive\r\ndysphagia, dyspnea, and foreign body sensation occurs in a patient who had thyroidectomy and living in an endemic goiter region, lingual thyroid may be underlying disorder.

Keywords: thyroglossal hyperplasia, dysphagia, dyspnea, lingual thyroid

Correspondence: Ibrahim Yetim MD, Mustafa Kemal University Medical School -\r\nDpt. General Surgery, Hatay 31000, Turkey, Email: yetim54@gmail.com