2012 Volume 105 Issue 8 Pages 773-778
A 22-year-old woman presented at our hospital with foreign body sensation of the pharynx. Fiberscopy revealed a mass with dilated surface veins at the base of the tongue. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a mass in the tongue base, and there was no thyroid gland in the anatomically conventional, para-tracheal position. Tc-scintigraphy showed vivid uptake at the same lesion as identified on MRI, and the normal anatomical thyroid position did not show any radioactive uptake. Thyroid function tests, free T4 and TSH, were normal. These findings supported an ectopic lingual thyroid. CT angiography showed bilateral lingual arteries which fed the lingual thyroid. We chose a lateral pharyngotomy approach for resection of the lingual thyroid to achieve a wide operative field. After ligating the lingual artery which feeds the ectopic thyroid, the mass was resected with minimal bleeding. Post-operative histopathological analysis confirmed that the specimen was normal thyroid tissue.
