Blunt Thyroid Trauma With Acute Hemorrhage and Respiratory Distress

We report a rare event of acute hemorrhage into a thyroid adenoma after blunt trauma and causing respiratory distress. A 65-year-old woman fell and hit the left side of her anterior neck without any other injuries. The next day, she suffered from severe dyspnea and respiratory distress, and visited a community hospital. She required endotracheal intubation and was immediately transferred to a regional emergency center. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed significant tracheal deviation to the right due to an extensive hematoma surrounded by a capsule in the left lobe of the thyroid gland with extension to the upper mediastinum. The patient was referred to our hospital because the diagnosis of malignant thyroid tumor was not completely ruled out. She successfully underwent left lobectomy of the thyroid gland without sternotomy. The pathological examination revealed follicular adenoma of the thyroid gland with massive intratumor bleeding.