Abstract

GALAN, Mónica et al. Surgery for the Treatment of Thyrotoxic Crisis. Rev Cubana Cir [online]. 2019, vol.58, n.4  Epub May 25, 2020. ISSN 1561-2945.

The thyrotoxic crisis is a complication of poorly treated thyrotoxicosis and is associated with high mortality. This condition requires urgent medical treatment in intensive care units. A 42-year-old woman, with a personal history of high blood pressure, hyperfunctioning thyroid nodule for 18 years, and abandonment of medical treatment since two years ago, presented to the emergency department with paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, tachycardia, high blood pressure, large goiter, and anasarca. She was admitted into the intensive care unit with a diagnosis of thyrotoxic crisis and started to receive medical treatment under precise support measures, including orotracheal intubation. Due to the patient’s difficult clinical and respiratory management, it was decided to perform urgent surgical treatment. She was performed a total thyroidectomy of partial intrathoracic multinodular goiter and a preventive tracheostomy. The result of pathological anatomy was toxic multinodular goiter. The patient was discharged with normal thyroid function, tracheostomy closure, and good phonation, after a month and a half of hospitalization. Despite the fact that conservative medical treatment is the adequate one for thyrotoxicosis, the systemic symptoms and signs of the thyrotoxic crisis, and its organ-specific manifestations, associated with persistent respiratory distress due to compression symptoms derived from large goiter, urgent thyroidectomy needed to be indicated in this case, a fact corroborated after good postoperative evolution. The treatment of thyrotoxicosis is fundamentally clinical; however, surgery can be useful given the difficulty in clinical management.

Keywords : thyrotoxicosis; thyrotoxicosis crisis; toxic multinodular goiter.

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