Rhabdomyolysis is characterized by skeletal muscle breakdown. It is a potential cause of serious electrolyte and metabolic disturbances, acute kidney insufficiency, and death. Recently, rhabdomyolysis has been increasingly recognized following certain surgical procedures. We discuss the case of a morbidly obese 51-year-old woman who developed postoperative rhabdomyolysis of the lumbar muscles following a prolonged thyroidectomy for a large goiter. We discuss how her morbid obesity, the supine surgical position, the duration of surgery (including prolonged exposure to anesthetic agents), and postoperative immobility contributed to the development of rhabdomyolysis. Immediately after surgery, the patient developed hypocalcemia, which was likely due to rhabdomyolysis since her serum parathyroid hormone level was normal. Later, however, persistent hypocalcemia despite resolution of the rhabdomyolysis raised a suspicion of iatrogenic hypoparathyroidism, which was confirmed by a suppressed parathyroid hormone level several days after surgery. In post-thyroidectomy patients with risk factors for rhabdomyolysis, maintaining a high degree of clinical suspicion and measuring serum creatine kinase and parathyroid hormone levels can allow for an accurate interpretation of hypocalcemia.
Inverted papilloma is a rare benign neoplasm that usually originates in the lateral nasal wall. It can be a locally aggressive lesion and invade nearby structures. While primarily a nasal neoplasm, cases of an inverted papilloma involving the temporal bone, pharynx, nasopharynx, and lacrimal sac have been reported. We describe the case of a 67-year-old man with a history of nasal inverted papilloma who presented with a recurrent nasal mass and a large mass on the left side of his upper neck. The patient's history included inverted papillomas in multiple locations: the temporal bone, the sinonasal tract, and the nasopharynx. The new neck mass raised a concern for malignant degeneration and metastasis, but pathology demonstrated that it was a benign inverted papilloma. No clear etiology for the new neck lesion was evident except for an origin in salivary gland tissue. However, there was no physical connection between the neck mass and the submandibular gland identifiable on pathologic evaluation. This case illustrates the need for an aggressive primary resection to minimize local recurrence, as well as adequate surveillance to address recurrences early. Given the potential for multicentricity, patients with a typical sinonasal inverted papilloma should undergo a complete head and neck examination as part of their follow-up.
Foreign-body ingestion is a common cause of esophageal perforation, which can lead to a fatal posterior mediastinal abscess. Routine treatments include the drainage of pus through the esophageal perforation, thoracotomy, and videothoracoscopic drainage. We present 2 cases of posterior mediastinal abscess caused by esophageal perforation. Both patients-a 44-year-old woman and an 80-year-old man-were successfully treated with a novel, minimally invasive approach that involved draining pus through the retropharyngeal space; drainage was supplemented by the administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics and nasal feeding.
In day-to-day otolaryngology practice, esophageal foreign bodies are common in adults, children, and even infants.1 However, the complication of esophageal perforation is not common, and retroesophageal abscesses caused by foreign bodies are rarely seen.
The recommended treatment is lobectomy or total thyroidectomy, with or without radioablation. The choice depends on the size and stage of the tumor, extent of lymphovascular invasion, and patient's age.
Thyroid gland follicular carcinoma is a malignant epithelial neoplasm of follicular cell differentiation that exhibits capsular and/or lymphovascular invasion while lacking the nuclear features of thyroid papillary carcinoma. While rarely inherited, follicular carcinoma will develop in about 20% of patients with Cowden syndrome, related...
The incidence of foreign body impaction in neurologic dysfunctional swallowing, such as in multiple sclerosis (MS), has been not widely reported.