Lingual thyroid excision via Transoral Robotic Surgery – Case report and literature review

Abstract

Lingual thyroid is a rare disease, occurring in 1/18,000 to 1/100,000 live births. Symptoms may vary from hypothyroidism to massive bleeding and odynofagia. A number of different approaches for surgical excision of lingual thyroid have been described and include transcervical pharyngotomy or mid line trans mandibular lingual split. Transoral robotic surgery is a minimally invasive approach for oropharyngeal cancer, however it also may be suitable for some benign diseases, such as lingual thyroid. Hence, this approach has not been addressed in recent studies. We reviewed literature and reported a case of lingual thyroid in a 29-year old female patient who was presented with oral bleeding and odynofagia. RMI confirmed 3.9 cm lingual mass consistent with thyroid tissue. We performed a trans oral removal of the thyroid tissue using the Da Vinci Si System. Patient was discharged within 48 hours, currently asymptomatic in follow up.

Keywords

• Thyroid disease
• Thyroid surgery
• Robotic surgery