Thyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association
-
Case Reports
Recurrent pregnancy-related upper airway obstruction caused by intratracheal ectopic thyroid tissue.
An unusual case of recurrent pregnancy-related thyroid growth stimulation is reported. A 27-year-old euthyroid woman had pulmonary symptoms, thought to be asthma during her first pregnancy, that improved postpartum. Bronchodilatators had no effect and symptoms recurred from gestational week 22 during her second pregnancy. ⋯ Apgar score was normal and the child has developed normally. We believe that this case illustrates the recurrent effect of pregnancy-related thyroid tissue stimulation by a combination of increasing human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) stimulation and iodine deficiency in a borderline iodine-deficient region. This is the first report on symptomatic intratracheal ectopic thyroid tissue diagnosed during pregnancy.