title: Airway obstruction in childhood thyroid carcinoma.
abstract: Thyroid carcinoma is an uncommon but well described childhood malignancy. Obstructive airway symptoms represent an unusual mode of presentation of this disease in childhood. A 5-year-old child with locally invasive follicular thyroid carcinoma had symptomatic wheezing for one year, thought to be asthma. Extrinsic compressive tumor or transtracheal, intraluminal tumor, while rare, should always be a consideration in atypical or medically refractory 'asthma' during childhood.
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000209:etiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis