Hypertrophic Lingual Thyroid Causing Sleep Apnea

Abstract

Ectopic lingual thyroid disorder, developing as a consequence of thyroid gland migration during early embryogenesis, is a rarely seen congenital anomaly. In this paper, we report a 39-year-old male patient with snoring and moderate-level obstructive sleep apnea who received the diagnosis of lingual thyroid at our clinic. We treated the patient with thyroxin suppression therapy. During our clinical follow-ups, the amount of lingual thyroid tissue significantly decreased, and the symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea disappeared.

Keywords

• lingual thyroid
• obstructive sleep apnea
• thyroxin suppression therapy