title: Obstructive lingual thyroid causing sleep apnea: a case report and review of the literature.
abstract: Lingual thyroid has been reported to cause obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) only once in the literature. We present a case of a 49-year-old nonobese female with a 2-year history of progressive snoring, apneas, snort arousals, and daytime somnolence associated with the sensation of an 'enlarging tongue'. She was found to have severe OSA caused by a large lingual thyroid. While positive airway pressure therapy was not successful, surgical resection of the thyroid was curative. OSA caused by lingual thyroid and other oropharyngeal/parapharyngeal tumors are discussed. A careful oropharyngeal examination is important in evaluating patients with complaints of OSA.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Desk East 18, Mayo Clinic, 200 1st St SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. barnes.terrance@mayo.edu
authors.forename: Terrance W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: Kerry D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: Timothy I
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Morgenthaler
mesh_terms: D045422:Continuous Positive Airway Pressure / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D046151:Lingual Thyroid / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography / Q000295:instrumentation; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy