Intratracheal ectopic thyroid tissue: a case report and literature review

We discuss a case of intratracheal ectopic thyroid tissue (ETT) that was retrieved from the files of the Otorhinolaryngic--Head and Neck Pathology Registry at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. The patient was a 54-year-old man who had a history of papillary thyroid carcinoma, which had been treated with a subtotal thyroidectomy. During routine follow-up 4 years later, the patient's primary care physician detected an elevated thyroglobulin level. Further referrals and evaluations revealed that the patient had intratracheal ETT. The patient refused to undergo surgical excision and remains without evidence of recurrent carcinoma. In a MEDLINE literature review, we found only 13 other well-documented cases of intratracheal ETT since 1966; in all but two cases, patients had benign disease. Once the possibility of thyroid carcinoma has been eliminated by histologic examination, intratracheal ETT can be managed by complete surgical excision with the prospect of an excellent long-term clinical outcome.