Acute airway obstruction due to primary thyroid lymphoma

Abstract

We report the case of 71 year old woman who presented with severe inspiratory stridor due to a compressing primary thyroid lymphoma. This is only the third case of thyroid lymphoma presenting with stridor reported in the literature and it is particularly unusual in that there was'no preceding history of Hashimoto's thyroiditis. The clinical presentation of a rapidly enlarging thyroid mass with compressive symptoms, coupled with its miraculous response to steroids, created a difficult diagnostic and management challenge.