-
Case Reports
Chylothorax associated with substernal goiter treated with transcervical thyroidectomy.
- Jason P Hunt, Matthew Wilson, and Luke O Buchmann.
- Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah 84132, USA. jason.hunt@hsc.utah.edu
- Thyroid. 2011 May 1; 21 (5): 551-3.
BackgroundSubsternal goiters are frequently associated with compressive symptoms. Compression of the trachea and esophagus are common, whereas thoracic duct compression is a rare occurrence.MethodsWe report a rare case of a 72-year-old woman with thoracic duct compression by a large substernal goiter that presented with shortness of breath. After undergoing thoracentesis multiple times, the patient was treated with thyroidectomy.ResultsTranscervical thyroidectomy was performed without sternotomy. This led to resolution of her symptoms. Confirmation of chylothorax resolution was obtained with postoperative computed tomography of the chest.ConclusionChylothorax is a rare sequela of substernal goiters. It can be managed with thyroidectomy. Sternotomy was avoided in this case.
Notes
Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
- Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as
*italics*,_underline_or**bold**. - Superscript can be denoted by
<sup>text</sup>and subscript<sub>text</sub>. - Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines
1. 2. 3., hyphens-or asterisks*. - Links can be included with:
[my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com) - Images can be included with:
 - For footnotes use
[^1](This is a footnote.)inline. - Or use an inline reference
[^1]to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document[^1]: This is a long footnote..