Airway emergency from spontaneous haemorrhagic thyroid cancer
Vijendren, A.; Ladha, N.; Hilger, A.W.
Medical Journal of Malaysia 69(4): 187-188
2014
ISSN/ISBN: 0300-5283 PMID: 25500848 Document Number: 678090
Spontaneous thyroid haemorrhages are rare. There are reported cases occurring in thyroid nodules and cysts but none in thyroid malignancies. We describe a 48 year old who presented to the on-call ENT team with a rapidly progressing neck swelling that was interfering with his airway. After resuscitation, the patient underwent a right lobectomy to stop the bleeding. Histology showed a thyroid follicular carcinoma. As per the regional multidisciplinary team discussion, he underwent a completion thyroidectomy followed by radioactive iodine treatment. We conclude that spontaneous haemorrhages of the thyroid gland can occur in malignancies and stress the importance of early histological diagnosis.