Laryngospasm secondary to a multinodular goitre

 

Mohd Sazafi MOHD SAAD 1, Esa KAMARUZAMAN 2, Mazita AMI 1

1 Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 2 Department of Anaesthesiology & Critical Care, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia.

 

ABSTRACT

Laryngospasm is a serious event that can result in partial or complete upper airway obstruction. It is a common complication during recovery phase of anaesthesia, resulting from acute irritation of the vocal folds. We report a rare case of laryngospasm secondary to a multinodular goitre that settled after treatment. We postulate that the enlarged thyroid gland can lead to direct irritation of the laryngeal nerve as possible cause of repeated episodes of laryngospasm in this patient. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of a multinodular goitre as the underlying cause of laryngospasm.

 

Keywords: Airway obstruction, laryngospasm, multinodular goitre

 

Correspondence author: MS MOHD SAAD, Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Bandar Tun Razak 56000, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: +60192644427 Fax: +60391456675

E mail: drsazafi@yahoo.com

                    Brunei Int Med J. 2012;8(2):90-93

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