Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jul 26, 2024; 12(21): 4794-4801
Published online Jul 26, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i21.4794
Transposition of the lingual thyroid gland to the submandibular region through a submandibular approach: A case report
Yu-Ting Yin, Chao Gui
Yu-Ting Yin, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430079, Hubei Province, China
Chao Gui, Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430079, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: All authors made intellectual contributions to this manuscript; Gui C drafted the manuscript, prepared the figures, and conducted the data acquisition; Yin YT reviewed the literature and revised the manuscript; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Chao Gui, MMed, Surgeon, Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Hubei Cancer Hospital, No. 116 Zhuodaoquan South load, Hongshan District, Wuhan 430079, Hubei Province, China. guichaosjwk@126.com
Received: April 6, 2024
Revised: May 14, 2024
Accepted: May 27, 2024
Published online: July 26, 2024
Processing time: 86 Days and 5.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Ectopic thyroid at the base of the tongue is a rare congenital condition, and it is even rarer to have clinical symptoms and require surgical intervention. This disease is easily misdiagnosed preoperatively. This article reports the diagnosis, surgical treatment, and follow-up of a case of lingual thyroid.

CASE SUMMARY

The patient was a 54-year-old woman who presented with laryngeal foreign body sensation and dysphagia for 20 d. The lingual thyroid was considered for general examination, and surgery was performed to transpose the lingual thyroid to the right submaxillary region. Pathological analysis confirmed thyroid tissue. The patient experienced complete remission after surgery, but developed hypothyroidism and required thyroid hormone replacement therapy, and her thyroid function gradually recovered over time.

CONCLUSION

We report a rare case of lingual thyroid with marked laryngeal foreign body sensation and dysphagia. Symptoms were completely relieved by transposition surgery but postoperative hypothyroidism developed.

Keywords: Lingual thyroid; Dysphagia; Transposition; Surgery; Case report

Core Tip: Lingual thyroid with clinical symptoms is rare, and preoperative examination and diagnosis are important. Translocation of lingual thyroid to the submandibular region via the submandibular approach with lateral pharyngotomy can alleviate the pharyngeal symptoms, and this is a surgical approach that can effectively preserve the thyroid function. Postoperative attention should still be paid to hypothyroidism.