Acute upper airway obstruction due to myxoedema and upper airway abnormalities

Acute upper airway obstruction (U.A.O.) in adults is not as common as in children. The most common cause is choking on food, and associated endocrine disorders are among the rarest causes. Airway obstruction in adults has a variety of symptom-complexes, which manifest themselves as acute or chronic (incomplete) conditions, or only during sleep (sleep apnoea syndrome). There is an overlap between these symptoms and their aetiologies. A case of acute U.A.O. at the pharyngeal level in a hypothyroid patient is presented. Following airway relief and supplemental thyroxin treatment, the patient became asymptomatic during the daytime, but showed a severe form of sleep apnoea syndrome which required further surgical treatment to reach full cure.