Home Print this page Email this page Users Online: 1625
Home About us Editorial board Search Ahead of print Current issue Archives Submit article Instructions Subscribe Contacts Login 
CASE REPORT
Year : 2016  |  Volume : 4  |  Issue : 3  |  Page : 229-232

From neck swelling to abrupt compromised airway: A case of a hemorrhagic ruptured thyroid cyst


Department of ENT, Bahrain Defense Force Hospital, Ar-Rifaa, Kingdom of Bahrain

Correspondence Address:
Muneera A Al-Khalifa
Bahrain Defense Force Hospital
Kingdom of Bahrain
Login to access the Email id

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/1658-631X.188250

Rights and Permissions

Here, we present a rare case of spontaneous hemorrhagic rupture of a benign thyroid cyst in an adult Indian female who had no history of thyroid gland disease, trauma or coagulopathies. The patient presented to the Emergency Department with a suddenly progressive left-sided neck swelling of short duration. A 36-year-old otherwise healthy female presented to our Emergency Department with a progressive swelling on the left side of her neck that had started 2 days before her visit. Initially, the clinical neck examination revealed a well-defined soft cystic lesion confined to the left side of the neck anteriorly, measuring around 4 cm × 4 cm, tender to touch and moving with deglutition. Preliminary flexible scope examination of her larynx was normal. Within a few hours of having undergone ultrasonography examination, the neck swelling became diffused with increased tenderness. However, the patient remained clinically stable with no signs of airway compromise. A repeat of the fiber optic flexible scope examination showed submucosal hematoma in the left aryepiglottic area that mildly pushed the patient's laryngeal inlet to the contralateral side. Shortly after, the patient's condition worsened with the progression of swelling leading to compression of the airway. This promoted the decision to intubate the patient, who was subsequently, managed conservatively with close monitoring in the intensive care unit. Postintubation ultrasonography and computer tomography scans showed diffused inflammatory changes on the left side of the neck in the superficial and deep planes, mainly confined to the infrathyroid. Spontaneous sudden hemorrhagic rupture of a thyroid gland cyst is a rare condition but should be considered in a massive abrupt neck swelling that could potentially be life threatening.


[FULL TEXT] [PDF]*
Print this article     Email this article
 Next article
 Previous article
 Table of Contents

 Similar in PUBMED
   Search Pubmed for
   Search in Google Scholar for
 Related articles
 Citation Manager
 Access Statistics
 Reader Comments
 Email Alert *
 Add to My List *
 * Requires registration (Free)
 

 Article Access Statistics
    Viewed12959    
    Printed135    
    Emailed0    
    PDF Downloaded337    
    Comments [Add]    

Recommend this journal