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Ear, nose and throat
Papillary thyroid carcinoma with a retropharyngeal cystic goitre extending into the pharyngeal mucosal space
  1. Masami Suzuki1,
  2. Kohtaro Eguchi2 and
  3. Naohiro Yoshida1
  1. 1Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Jichi Medical University Saitama Medical Center, Saitama, Japan
  2. 2Head and Neck Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
  1. Correspondence to Dr Naohiro Yoshida; naoyoshida{at}jichi.ac.jp

Abstract

Retropharyngeal goitre extending to the oropharyngeal level is rare. We present a case of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) with a retropharyngeal cystic goitre extending to the uvular level. A woman in her 50s presented with swelling of the neck and dyspnoea. CT and MRI findings showed a primary tumour in the left lobe of the thyroid gland and a retropharyngeal dumbbell-shaped cystic goitre extending to the uvular level. Total thyroidectomy, central neck dissection and tracheostomy were performed. During the surgery, we opened the retropharyngeal space, and no mass was found. The pathological findings showed that the primary PTC (pT2) was surrounded by benign lesions, including the dumbbell-shaped cystic goitre. We speculated that the dumbbell-shaped cystic goitre extended from the visceral space (VS) into the pharyngeal mucosal space (PMS) and reached the uvular level because the thyroid gland is in the VS, and the VS and PMS are continuous spaces.

  • Thyroid disease
  • Head and neck surgery
  • Ear, nose and throat/otolaryngology

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2023-258684

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors MS, KE and NY were responsible for drafting the text, sourcing and editing of clinical images, investigation results, drawing original diagrams and algorithms, and critical revision for important intellectual content. All the authors gave final approval of the article.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Case reports provide a valuable learning resource for the scientific community and can indicate areas of interest for future research. They should not be used in isolation to guide treatment choices or public health policy.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.