Functional Lingual Thyroid as Unusual Cause of Progressive Dysphagia

Abstract

Lingual thyroid is an uncommon developmental anomaly and is the result of failure of the thyroid to descend from the foramen caecum to its prelaryngeal site. The lingual thyroid with a functioning thyroid gland in the neck is even more rare. In this report, we describe a 40-year-old female patient with a foreign body sensation and progressive dysphagia caused by ectopic lingual thyroid that is 5 x 4 x 3 cm in size. Here we present a patient with functional lingual thyroid gland who had had thyroidectomy 20 years ago. Lingual thyroid, which is like a malignant mass, was excised by external approach without complications.

Thyroid Hemiagenesis, Ectopic Submandibular Thyroid Tissue, and Apparent Persistent Subclinical Thyrotoxicosis

“…ETT is generally located at the base of tongue and the prelaryngeal area. Submandibular location of ETT is very unusual (3,4). Here we report a patient with both HA and ETT who also had evidence of abnormal thyroid function.…”

Lingual thyroid: an unusual and surgically curable cause of sleep apnoea in a male

“…Many patients are asymptomatic but some report dysphagia, dysphonia, dyspnoea, and haemoptysis which require further evaluation [6][7][8]. Additionally, there have been limited reports of OSA secondary to obstruction caused by parapharyngeal and oropharyngeal tumours [9].…”

“…Many patients are asymptomatic but some report complaints secondary to anatomic obstruction of the oropharynx including dysphagia, dysphonia, dyspnoea, and haemoptysis [6][7][8]. Lingual thyroid is a rare cause of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) with few documented cases in the literature [9,10].…”

Coblation assisted excision of lingual thyroid

“…Main symptoms related to LT are foreignbody-feeling, swallowing difficulties [10], dyspnea and airway problem [11], articulation disorders, chronic cough [12], bleeding [13,14], hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism [15], but in many cases the diagnosis is accidental. There are four groups of LT; lingual, sublingual, thyroglossal and intralaryngeal [14].…”