title: Immobile vocal fold secondary to thyroid abscess: a case report.
abstract: Vocal fold paralysis as a result of a thyroid abscess is extremely rare. In this article, we report only the second documented case of such a finding. The paralysis was discovered after our patient, a 40-year-old woman, had come to the office with a complaint of discomfort in the right lower neck. Computed tomography confirmed the presence of an abscess in the posterior thyroid gland. Fine-needle aspiration did not identify any inflammatory or suspicious cells. The abscess was treated with hemithyroidectomy, and the paralysis resolved 3 weeks later. There has been no recurrence after 4 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology and Communicative Disorders, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New Hyde Park, N.Y., USA. myssiore@lij.edu
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Myssiorek
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shikowitz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sarnataro
mesh_terms: D000038:Abscess / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013959:Thyroid Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D013965:Thyroidectomy; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014826:Vocal Cord Paralysis / Q000209:etiology*