The management of airway involvement in thyroid tumors

I have reviewed 100 consecutive cases of surgically managed thyroid disease. Of those, 35% had evidence of airway involvement. The airway involvement can be classified in the following fashion: compression alone, displacement with compression, displacement without compression, infiltration of the airway with or without compression or displacement, and neurogenic dysfunction of the airway. Definitive management of these cases involved resection of the thyroid gland with decompression of the airway in compressive and/or displacement disease, and en bloc composite resection of the thyroid and involved airway in infiltrative disease. In all cases, with the exception of those involving anaplastic carcinoma, restoration of normal airway function and control of disease was possible.