Surgical management of life-threatening thyroid haematoma following occult blunt neck trauma.

Ved, Ronak, Patel, Neil and Stechman, Michael 2016. Surgical management of life-threatening thyroid haematoma following occult blunt neck trauma. Case Reports in Endocrinology 2016 , 4307695. 10.1155/2016/4307695

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Abstract

A 42-year-old man arrived at the emergency department in severe respiratory distress, requiring immediate intubation and ventilation. An emergency computed tomography (CT) neck scan identified a substantial haematoma within a multinodular goitre, necessitating an emergency total thyroidectomy. It was later discovered that the patient had been the victim of an assault involving blunt trauma to the anterior neck. Five days postoperatively the patient was extubated and was well enough to self-discharge the following day. Pathology revealed the lesion to be a ruptured follicular adenoma within his multinodular goitre. Signs of this rare but life-threatening condition may be subtle on initial presentation, particularly if the patient is obtunded. Patients with suspected blunt neck trauma should be observed for signs of respiratory distress. If this develops, the patient should be intubated to facilitate CT scan, and if thyroid haematoma is confirmed, emergency thyroidectomy is the definitive treatment.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine
Additional Information:	This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
Publisher:	Hindawi
ISSN:	2090-6501
Funders:	-
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 August 2022
Date of Acceptance:	25 September 2016
Last Modified:	27 Sep 2024 14:51
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/149148

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