Downloads: 140 | Views: 201

Case Studies | Anaesthesiology | India | Volume 9 Issue 2, February 2020

Unusual Stridor Following Thyroid Surgery

Dr. Kollu Divya

Abstract: The complications following thyroid surgery are rare due to better preoperative preparations and proper surgical techniques; however, complications like hematoma formation and recurrent laryngeal nerve injury are known to cause airway obstruction and can be fatal. We report a case of a 35 year old euthyroid patient, with preoperative diagnosis of multinodular goiter thyroid who underwent total thyroidectomy. In this patient both intra operative and immediate post- operative period was uneventful, but the patient developed airway obstruction after one hour of thyroidectomy, to maintain the airway patient shifted to operation room, and re-exploration of the wound was performed but no abnormalities were found. As patient was not in distress maintaining saturations around 90 % on room air, bronchoscopy under intravenous midazolam sedation showed paradoxical vocal cords movement and web covering anterior part of subglottis. patient was put on steroids and calcium gluconate for four days in ICU, improvement in symptoms observed and transferred to surgical ward.

Keywords: thyroidectomy, stridor, laryngeal web

Edition: Volume 9 Issue 2, February 2020,

Pages: 359 - 360